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Pupils Recovering from Milk Poisoning
Nearly 1,170 primary and middle school students who suffered soy milk poisoning over the last week are on their way to recovery, according to a public relations firm in Jilin City in Northeast China's Jilin Province, according to today's China Daily.
Many students studying in the 11 attached schools under the Jilin Chemical Group felt feverish, had stomach cramps or vomited within two days of drinking soy milk produced by a local company, said a teacher from the General School of the group.
The pupils were treated at the local Tiedong and Pucheng hospitals, officials there said.
The source of the poisoning was traced to a kind of dysentery bacillus in the milk produced by Jilin Wanfang Scientific, Industrial Trade Ltd. Co.
The company, which began producing soy milk only a short time ago, provided the soy milk to students for free and asked them to drink it on a trial basis, said a teacher from the school who refused to give her name.
The company has since stopped producing and marketing soy milk.
Local police detained Zhou Jingshan, company president, and a food inspector pending further investigation.
The mass poisoning aroused deep concern from the provincial and local governments.
Wang Yunkun, Party secretary of the city of Jilin, said the government will severely punish those responsible and rectify the market economic order.
Local sanitary department and epidemic prevention station workers are sterilizing the schools to keep the bacteria from spreading.
Most primary and middle school students in Northeast China's Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces have been drinking soy milk everyday since the end of last year, when the State introduced the milk as part of a pilot program.
The Jilin provincial government hired eight companies to provide low-price, high-quality milk to students to improve their nutrition levels. Yet the company involved in the case was reportedly not on the list.
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