Worries about food safety are increasing as, with the New Year
just around the corner and the long Spring Festival holiday just 50
days ahead, the country has been hit by a series of food
poisonings.
Saturday witnessed two cases involving more than 60 people
altogether.
In south China's Hainan
Province, 19 workers in the capital city of Haikou fell ill
with nausea, vomiting and dizziness about an hour after having
dinner at the company cafeteria at 6:00 PM.
All the victims -- two women and seventeen men who work as
dockers for a port company at Haidian wharf -- were sent to a local
hospital.
One colleague who did not share the meal with the others said
the poisoning might have been related to the Chinese cabbage they
ate that evening. No indication of the reason for the connection
was provided.
The 19 victims remain in the hospital and cause of the incident
is under investigation.
Earlier on Saturday in a village near Hohhot, the capital city
of north China's Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region, more than 40 people were poisoned
during a family celebration.
Local health officials told Xinhua News Agency that those who
were sick ranged in age from about six to more than seventy.
Ren Humao and family were holding a traditional 100th-day
celebration following the birth of their son by inviting friends
and relatives to breakfast in a local restaurant on Saturday.
Guests began complaining of nausea, dizziness and exhaustion
shortly after reaching their homes.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the soup served at
breakfast contained a far greater amount of nitrite than is
allowed.
Sodium nitrite is a preservative commonly used in meats to
maintain color and prevent botulism. At high levels, nitrite is
toxic if consumed because it binds with the hemoglobin in red blood
cells and prevents the transfer of oxygen within the body.
Early Sunday morning, another poisoning occurred in Tianjin
Municipality, about 120 kilometers south of Beijing.
At 3:00 AM on December 19, 20 employees of an electronics
company fell ill after eating rice, mushrooms and pumpkin when they
got off the night shift.
All 20 were given medical care and no lives were lost.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn December 20, 2004)