Phnom Penh, Oct 19 (IANS) At least 137 school children in Cambodia's Takeo province fell sick after eating tainted food distributed by a local volunteer group, officials said on Wednesday.
The children fell ill on Tuesday afternoon, about four hours after they ate fried rice with egg, corn and sausage and drank milk and fresh water, Deputy Police Chief of Tram Kak district told Xinhua news agency.
"They all have the same symptoms: vomiting and diarrhoea," he said, adding that they had been rushed to hospitals soon after the incident.
The police chief said a sample of the tainted fried rice was sent to the provincial food safety bureau for examination.
According to him, the contaminated food was distributed to the school children at Wat Tatai primary school by a group of students from a school in Phnom Penh.
The police chief said that he and the group of students visited and made cash donation to the ill-fated children in hospitals on Wednesday afternoon and saw that they were all in stable condition.
Checks on food are rare in Cambodia, where safety regulations are lax.
Last month, the Ministry of Health urged all citizens to be careful with food hygiene to avoid illness after 37 Buddhist monks fell ill in Kampong Cham province after eating contaminated food.
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