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Forty-eight people died and 3,063
people fell ill because of food poisoning throughout China between
April and June, the Ministry of Health said Wednesday, calling for
swift action to prevent food contamination.
The numbers of poisoning cases and
associated fatalities climbed steeply during the second quarter. They
were mainly caused by food contamination by bacteria and pesticide, the
ministry said.
The Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) received 77 food poisoning case reports in
the April-June period, a rise of 40 percent from the same period last
year, and nearly three times that of the first three months this year.
The numbers of the dead and those
falling ill were respectively 65.5 percent and 11.3 percent higher
compared to the same period last year.
Food contamination by bacteria such
as salmonella was the leading cause of poisoning, largely because of
improper storage and processing of foodstuffs during summer, the
ministry said.
However, use of food tainted by
pesticides or poisonous food, such as undercooked green beans, was more
deadly, being responsible for 41 deaths between April and June.
Awareness of food safety and personal
hygiene should be promoted among rural residents, because about half of
poisoning cases and most of the deaths happened in rural households.
The
knowledge of safe use of poisonous pesticides should also be improved,
because they were often a key source of food contamination, the
ministry said.
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