Shawarma an extremely popular middle eastern dish made of marinated grilled meat which is wrapped in pita bread is under fire from an unexpected quarter. DMK's health minster MA Subramanian made a bizarre comment that people of the state should shun the dish because it is not “native” enough and because “shawarma is a dish that is suitable for eating in cold countries”.

He made this comments in the wake of three veterinary college students falling ill after eating shawarma at Thanjavur on May 5. The incident created a panic in the state since it happened close on the heels of the death of a 16-year-old girl in Kerala, after she also consumed shawarma recently.

Talking to the media, he said, “There are proper procedures that should be followed while making the shawarma. When people eat substandard or contaminated food items, it causes health problems. It is commonly consumed abroad because of their weather conditions. Weather is generally cold abroad, the meat stays fresh even without refrigeration. But, in tropical countries like ours, preserving meat for long is difficult. We have an appeal to the people. There are plenty of native food options for us. Rather than picking from such options, people should not spoil their health by choosing foreign origin food s like Shawarma or any other similar new foreign food."

In the past too he had made some unscientific claims that breathing exercises like pranayama could counter the effects of the coronavirus.