XI'AN, June 19 -- Food poisoning at a junior high school in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has left 43 students with Escherichia coli infections, authorities said on Thursday.

More than one hundred students started to suffer vomiting and diarrhea after having dinner on Wednesday evening in the dining hall of the Liangyi Junior High School of Dali County, said the press office of the county government.

A total of 179 students from the school have received medical checks in local hospitals.

The tests confirmed 43 of them as having contracted Escherichia coli through food poisoning, but they are all in stable conditions, according to the county people's hospital.

As of 10 a.m. on Thursday, 31 of the 43 infected students were still receiving treatment in the hospital. Thirteen have been discharged from the hospital.

Further medical tests and investigation into the food poisoning are under way.