Nabarangpur: The district administration has launched a probe a day after three members of a family died and a six-year old child admitted in the hospital after consuming a dish made from mango kernel.

A team of officials led by district collector Ajit Kumar Mishra visited the victim family's village at Maina Padar in Jharigaon block on Wednesday and ruled out assumptions that the family had consumed the mango kernel out of poverty. "The family is quite well off. They have six acres of agricultural land where they grow maize. They have their own home with a garage, two tractors and earned Rs 2 lakh by selling maize last year," the collector said.

"On Monday, the family had obtained 20kg of rice under the Food Security Act. Hence, it is not for poverty that they had consumed the mango kernel dish," he added.

Maina Padar, located about 100km from the district headquarters town, is home to 23 families from tribal communities. Mango kernel is a staple food of the community.

However, the family members of Arjun Santa became victims of that staple on Tuesday. Among the dead were Arjun's wife, Sudhamani, 30, his sister Namita, 15, and sister-in-law Pramila, 28. Arjun's son, Prakash, was admitted to the Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital in Koraput where his condition is said to be stable.

Arjun said the family had prepared a dish using a paste of dried mango kernel and consumed it around 10am on Monday. As he and his brother were not at home, they had not taken the dish. "Around 2am on Tuesday, the family members complained of vomiting and loose motion. Before we could do anything, my sister succumbed," said Arjun.

Arjun's two other sons - Prabhakar, 12, and Pradeep, 8 - and his niece Rebika, 8, study at a government-run residential school.

"Eating stale mango kernel can cause infections. In this case, the family had consumed cake made of mango kernel prepared around five days ago. It's a case of food poisoning," the collector said.

Doctors said that though mango kernel was non-poisonous, stale items prepared from it should not be consumed. "We will generate awareness among tribal communities to not consume stale food items prepared from mango kernel as it develops fungus and poisons the food," said Nabarangpur chief district medical officer in-charge Sobharani Mishra.