Children at three kindergartens in the city of Fergana are suspected to have been poisoned by food, and 28 of them were in hospital as of 11:00 on Oct. 26, the Food Safety Committee said.
The committee said pupils from preschool institutions No. 2, No. 7 and No. 47 went to the Fergana province infectious diseases hospital with fever, abdominal pain, weakness, nausea and diarrhea. The children in hospital are in stable condition, and none is in serious condition, it said.
A further 23 children were assessed as being in satisfactory condition and were allowed to continue treatment at home.
Investigators examined the food the children ate at breakfast, lunch and the evening snack, and identified the suppliers of those products. “Samples of food products and ready meals have been taken for bacteriological testing. Epidemiological inquiries and laboratory tests are continuing,” the committee said in its statement.
Children in Fergana’s kindergartens have been mass-poisoned before. It later emerged that the company supplying catered meals to state kindergartens in the cities of Fergana and Quvasoy had won that business without any tender, through a decision signed by the province governor.
