Odisha Health Min Asks Food Safety Commissioner to Sample Test of Litchi

Bhubaneswar:  As death of children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and its neighbouring districts were linked to the luscious Litchi, the Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das today asked the Food Safety Commissioner to collect and test sample of this fruit being sold in the State.

“We have asked for a sample test of litchi as we don’t want the Bihar case doesn’t happen here,” the Minister told the media persons here.

The test sample of litchi will be done in order to ascertain the toxic contents keeping in view of its negative impact on human health, said an official.

As many as 125 children have died in Bihar with symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
Health experts suspected that the death of children was linked to toxins present in litchis. 

The fruit has a chemical methylene cyclopropyl-glycine (MCPG), which is believed to have affected brain functioning when sugar levels are low, they said.