Food Poisoning Kills 25 Chinese in April-JuneTwenty-five Chinese were killed by food poisoning during the second quater this year, announced an official of the Ministry of Health (MOH) Friday.Zhao Tonggang, director of the MOH department of Health Law and Supervision, said MOH has received 39 reports of severe food poisoning, with 2,222 people poisoned and 25 people killed. He noted that most of the incidents occurred in June. Most of the people were poisoned by food contaminated with bacteria or toxic chemicals. Over half of those poisoned were students eating in school dining halls. "The number of people poisoned in April-June is four times that of the January-March period this year," Zhao said. He also pointed out that the severe food poisoning cases share similar characteristics: producers and processors of the contaminated food pay little attention to the processing, transport, storage, and sale of the products. MOH has asked health departments at various levels to take steps to eliminate hidden factors contributing to food poisoning, and to educate workers in the industry about sanitary handling of food. Health and catering industry departments will hold a comprehensive check-up of catering enterprises, stressing the sanitation of processing places, Zhao said. |
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