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2 dead and 37 hospitalisations after food poisoning in Northriding cluster; FSA’ standards put into question.
Friday, October 9th, 5673 - by James Broden



In the Grand Duchy of Northriding, since Monday, a cluster of food poisoning cases has been creating itself around the small towns of Heffenshire, Townburg, located in the suburbs of the Grand Duchy’s capital city of Northminster. According to the provincial food safety agency’s head, 2 persons have died due to these food poisoning cases, and over 37 people have been admitted to the numerous hospitals in Northminster after having consumed FeelGood’s lasagna product. According to the FSA, the necessary control upon FeelGood’s assembly lines in Fleming, Northriding wasn’t properly conducted by FSA agents, casting new doubts upon the agency’s diligence and effectiveness in their work. According to sources within the Northriding Government, the two individuals who unfortunately passed away were both seniors, one having just retired (65) and the other, an elderly woman (86) who succumbed to the disease caused by the food poisoning, furthermore, according to the health authorities in the region, 13 children have been admitted in “life-threatening” conditions due to the aforementioned effects.

Northriding’s minister-president, Lyce Brown reaction to the crisis was one of “extreme anger”, in an interview to the Guardian yesterday, the minister-president blamed both FeelGood’s “unlawful” production practices and the FSA’s weak response to the incident, he stated that “13 children are in the hospital and potentially close to dying because one government agency couldn’t do its proper job and inspect if the sanitary condition in that factory was satisfactory enough to allow selling”, meanwhile, in Fort William, the FSA defends itself from any wrongdoings in their investigations.

“We are upholding the highest standards in terms of hygiene and sanitary standards in our inspection. On the case of the factory in Heffenshire, our inspectors stated the required health and hygiene standards set have been “more than surpassed”, indeed, in previous investigations, we found no real issues with the food safety standards in that factory.”, stated FSA’s chief, Bryan Poll in a statement today. Footages of the factory are telling a different story, far from the statements of the FSA, the environment in the factory was described as “alarming” by unions, the hygiene levels were described as “lacking” and numerous workers didn’t respect the food safety standards set by the FSA.

Through an administrative decision today, the factory in Heffenshire has been closed (put under prohibition to operate) until further notice, all of its workers having been placed under “temporary unemployment” status, where the government would help corporations to pay up the salaries of its employees, covering up to 75% of the entire salary. Health Secretary Peter Duffin announced that the central government would direct the Food Safety Agency to conduct “extensive investigations” into the factory, so as to reveal what was wrong there. In Fort William, small-scale protests have erupted over perceived government “cover-up” on the incident, protestors are asking for the resignation of Food Safety Agency’s chair Poll and the indictment of further unhealthy practices in the food processing industry.

This shocking news comes within the context of the Brooke ministry’s first months in office and this crisis is sure to disrupt legislative plans that the government might have considered, as this public health crisis calls for greater commitment from the federal government on the health security of its citizens, and this passes by, further legislative proposals to either increase the prerogatives of the FSA or generally increase regulations over the agri-food industry.

By the @IndependentObserver.