What is happening in this photo?
Interviewing of a suspected food poisoning case from a gotong royong event (see below). The wife of one of the participants involved in the event was interviewed. Their family had received wrapped food, but the family members were not the only ones who had symptoms of illness.
What is gotong royong?
The act is known as the culture of gotong royong or known as "communal work" in English. Gotong royong is a form of action usually done by several groups of people to achieve a shared objective. In the context of Indonesia, the culture of gotong royong usually comes as a communal value and has become a culture of people. Gotong royong is a part of the national identity of Indonesian culture since the practice is done in almost all areas in Indonesia. Each area also has its own names for gotong royong since the act is seen as a shared value and norm; the act is in their blood.
What your purpose for being there?
To gather information about the distribution of the wrapped food packages from the gotong royong event, to find out what menus are distributed to their families and how many family members consumed the packages, whether they had symptoms or not, and to understand the behavior of consuming food.
How long did the investigation take?
The investigation was conducted over a week starting on August 28, 2019. The gotong royong was held on August 24 and 25, 2019.
Were you able to conclude the source of food poisoning?
The alleged source of food poisoning was caused by the contamination of Salmonella sp. and Bacillus cereus with the following risk factors: the unavailability of hygienic hand washing; the presence of one family member in a food handler's house suffering from diarrhea and has a habit of misplaced defecating; the presence of many flies in the kitchen, and the presence of defecation facilities that use pit latrines.
Do you think food contamination and poisoning is an issue in Gunung Kidul due to the poor sanitation?
Hot weather conditions cause the area to dry up, so that water usage is very minimal and some people have to buy tengki water; some people still have the habit of defecating in their yard. The use of pit latrines is the main solution for people with low water conditions, even though we know that pit latrines can cause disease because they can be accessed by flies to spread disease.