Milk with too much bacteria caused illness in kids: China
By IANSWednesday, April 21, 2010
BEIJING - Chinese health officials Wednesday found excessive degree of harmful bacteria in the sample of the milk which caused food poisoning to more than 200 school children two days ago.
The milk contained excessive degrees of E.coli and other bacteria, officials said.
Samples of the milk supplied to schools in Xunyang county of Shaanxi province in northwest China, were tested and found to have a bacterium density of 16,400 per gram of milk, exceeding the limit of 10 in per gram, said Zhang Jiman, director of a laboratory of the county disease control centre.
Tests of 100 ml of milk also found 230 E.Coli bacteria per gram, while the safe limit was three, said Zhang.
About 100 middle and primary school students started to vomit and had stomach aches after drinking school breakfast milk Monday. Twenty were treated with intravenous drips, said Zhang.
Similar food poisoning cases were also reported in Shaanxi’s Mian county Monday, where more than 100 students showed the same symptoms and 27 were hospitalised after drinking milk supplied by the same dairy.
Quality inspection authorities in the two counties have sealed off its products for further investigation.
