Public security authorities have ruled out deliberate poisoning in a chain stores' pot-stewed duck that sickened more than 250 people in the eastern Jiangxi Province,saying the food was probably contaminated by bacteria.

A preliminary investigation on the problematic food in Xinjian and Jinxian counties in the provincial capital Nanchang, where most cases were reported, has found no sign of deliberate poisoning, according to Li Guohua, vice director of Nanchang municipal public security bureau.

But the food was probably contaminated during the production orstorage processes, and police had to wait for the test results from the local health authority, Li told Xinhua.

Incubation of the bacteria collected from the food would take 72 hours, but Xiong Jinbao, head of the health bureau in Xinjian county, said staphylococcus was probably to blame for the poisoning.

Experts say food contaminated by staphylococcus, often high protein food such as dairy products, meat, eggs and fish, can leadto vomiting and diarrhea, and has to be heated to 100 degrees Celsius for two hours to kill the bacterium.

The incident has caused widespread concern among local health officials over food safety, and the Nanchang municipal health administration has ordered thorough check of the supplier Huangshanghuang, which is a local name brand.

Most victims the food sickened were children and the majority of them had been discharged from hospitals after timely treatment,government officials said. The number of the poisoned taken into hospitals was 159 in Nanchang and 99 in Fengcheng, respectively.

Food safety departments of the two cities have seized all the stock of the food chain, which mainly produces meat products and has 138 stores across the province.

Source: Xinhua