Fourteen children in an east China kindergarten have been hospitalized in what local authorities suspect was food poisoning.

The children, all from the middle class in Red Star Kindergarten in Gao'an City, Jiangxi Province, began vomiting around 1 p.m., sources with city government said on Tuesday.

The children were sent to a nearby hospital in the township of Ducheng for treatment and observation, and they are now in stable condition.

Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the poisoning.

A total of 21 children are in the class at the privately owned, officially licensed kindergarten.