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Industrial salt kills 1, sickens 25 at food shop
By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-19 07:57
The owner of a Shanghai delicatessen that sold food cooked with industrial salt, which killed one person and poisoned 25 others, was detained by police yesterday. According to local authorities, 26 people showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting and rapid heartbeat after eating the food bought from Zhibin Delicatessen in the city's Pudong district on Saturday afternoon. One of them, a 38-year-old male surnamed Zhu, died before being sent to hospital. Doctors from the Pudong District People's Hospital said 25 people were diagnosed with nitrite poisoning. Shanghai authorities confirmed yesterday they found industrial salt in the food. All 25 people have been released from hospital. The Shanghai industry and commerce bureau shut down the delicatessen, which was operating without a license. Processing equipment and more than 26 kg of processed food were confiscated. Officials from the bureau said they would send the food for further testing. Related departments will continue to track the source of the industrial salt and its sales links. Compared to edible salts, salts for industrial purposes are poisonous. Eating industrial salts can cause dizziness, headache, fatigue, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, irritability, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. The wholesale price of edible salt costs 0.8 yuan (12 US cents) per kg, while industrial salt costs 0.2 yuan per kg. Some traders make profits by selling industrial salt as edible salt to food shops.
(China Daily 10/19/2009 page2) |
