12 suffer food poisoning after tasting apples at east Japan orchard

TOKYO, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12 people fell ill due to food poisoning after tasting apples at an orchard in Japan's eastern prefecture of Ibaraki, local media reported Thursday.

The 12 people, aged between 3 and their 80s, complained of symptoms including diarrhea and stomachache after tasting the fruit at Toyoda Apple Farm in the town of Daigo in Ibaraki prefecture on Nov. 5, Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reported, citing local authorities.

The Ibaraki prefectural government on Wednesday concluded it was a food poisoning case after the pathogenic O157 strain of the E. coli bacteria was detected in the victims' excrement.

The victims developed symptoms on or after Nov. 6, and up to five were hospitalized, said the report.

As of Wednesday, three were still in the hospital, including two in intensive care unit, a 6-year-old boy who is undergoing dialysis and is on a respirator and a woman in her 70s, it added.

The prefectural government said that the apples themselves had not been contaminated, but "are thought to have been contaminated during work" at the farm. The farm stopped its apple-tasting service on Nov. 16.