Not Expired But Not Hygienic, PSI Rice Box That Poisoned Koja Residents

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Regional Health Laboratory (Labkesda) issued the results of testing a rice box sample given PSI which resulted in poisoning dozens of Koja residents.

Sample testing was conducted on October 29. The samples studied were rice, eggs, beans, and lettuce, which are the food menu for PSI's rice box.

The head of the North Jakarta Health Sub-department, Yudi Dimiyati, said that the food was not expired, but unhygienic.

"The food is not expired but it is not hygienic," said Yudi when confirmed, Wednesday, November 3.

Yudi explained that the processing of food ingredients in PSI's rice boxes was not clean. Thus, bacterial contamination of food exceeds the normal threshold. The bacteria detected were Escherichia coli (E. coli).

"Because it is not hygienic, there are E. coli bacteria. Normally 1x10'. If more than 1x10' it can have an impact on human digestive organs such as diarrhea and vomiting," said Yudi.

For information, as many as 35 residents of Koja Village, Koja Sub-district, North Jakarta were poisoned after receiving the distribution of rice boxes from PSI cadres on Sunday, October 24.

The distribution of food was carried out spontaneously by PSI with the aim of caring for the residents. They distributed 89 food boxes containing rice with side dishes of eggs, beans, and tempeh orek.

Apparently, 3 hours later, 35 residents felt nauseated, dizzy, and vomited. Until finally, there were 24 residents who had been taken to Koja Hospital for treatment and 11 people decided to stay at home.

PSI Acting Chairman Giring Ganesha apologized for the case of mass poisoning in Kampung Beting, Koja, North Jakarta, allegedly due to the rice box program distributed by his party.

This was conveyed when Giring visited the poisoning victim who was still being treated at the Koja Hospital on Monday, October 25 evening.

Giring said that the PSI DKI Jakarta cadres will continue to accompany a number of victims suspected of being poisoned by rice boxes distributed to residents of Kampung Beting, Koja, North Jakarta.

"We are here to really (show) there is a sense of sympathy and responsibility," said Giring.

In addition to apologizing, the DKI Jakarta PSI Regional Management will also provide compensation to the victims and will conduct an internal investigation of the North Jakarta PSI regional management cadres.