To prevent more tragedies like these from happening, experts urge consumers' participation and the government's stiffer supervision "from farmland to table."

The Ministry of Health received 55 reports involving food poisoning during the three months, involving 9,043 people.

Bacterial poisoning is the major cause, affecting 5,324 people, over half of the involved population.

"The affected population is 5.6 times higher than in the second quarter from April to June," said Wang Jianrong, an official with the ministry.

Most of these poisoning cases occurred in public dining rooms, especially in schools.

On September 18, nearly 600 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province drank polluted soy bean milk and were sent to hospitals. Fortunately, all of the students recovered after treatment.

In order to ensure students' health, the ministry has decided to cooperate with related departments to hold investigations of school dining rooms and student food suppliers, and those found to be inadequate will be ordered to shut down, said Wang.

Poisoning also occurs because people lack common knowledge about ascertaining the difference between toxic plants and animals from those that are considered safe, he said.

Poisoning caused by eating toxic balloon fish and fungi has killed 13 people, nearly a third of the total cases reported in the third quarter.

"Ensuring food safety is not only the responsibility of the government, but also needs consumers' participation as well," said Wu Yongning, an expert on contaminants chemistry with the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene.

Wu said that consumers should have basic knowledge about food safety and should promptly report to food inspection departments any cases of unsafe food, since checkups organized by the government cannot cover all food products, he added.

The Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene and the Institute of Food Safety Control and Inspection are currently doing research and conducting inspections to promote food safety.

"But, first of all, governmental departments must take action at the beginning of the food chain, like strictly carrying out the ban on using harmful pesticides in farmlands," said Wu, adding that stricter inspections and a random system of checkups are also very necessary.

(China Daily November 7, 2001)