Suspected food poisoning hospitalizes 23 preschoolers in E China

A total of 23 preschoolers were hospitalized following what authorities suspect was a food poisoning incident at a kindergarten in east China's Jiangxi Province on Tuesday, the local government said Wednesday. The children began vomiting around 1 p.m., about an hour after lunch, which consisted of rice and jelly noodles, at the Red Star Kindergarten in Ducheng Township in the city of Gao'an, the city government said in a press release. It said the children also had biscuits as a morning snack. As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, 16 of the children were under observation at the People's Hospital in Gao'an and seven others were at a local hospital for traditional Chinese medicine. All were in stable condition. Samples of the vomit were sent for lab work at the provincial disease prevention and control center. The results will be available in three days. Altogether, 113 children are registered at Red Star Kindergarten, which is privately-owned and officially licensed. This has not been the first suspected food poisoning case in China's schools since the fall semester started on Sept. 1. Authorities in northern China's Hebei Province are investigating two similar cases that affected a total of 162 students. Suspected food poisoning hospitalized 27 primary school children in Yutian County of Tangshan from Sept. 1 to 6. Meanwhile, contaminated water has been blamed for sickening 135 middle school students in Longhua County. As of Tuesday, 50 of them were still under medical observation.