Nitrite mistaken for sugar has been blamed for a mass food poisoning that sickened 74 diners in an Anhui Province hotel 10 days ago.
Health authorities in the provincial capital Hefei ordered an immediate shutdown of the Congyang Hotel and promised to fine its management, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Hotel management in the eastern China province admitted to police that a pack of nitrite, which the chefs used to stew beef, had been reported missing since early September. However, it was revealed that no one had bothered to search for it carefully.
On Nov. 9, a chef found two bags of "white sugar" under a chopping board and took them out. He did not realize one was the missing nitrite. Other chefs took both bags as sugar when they prepared a lunch banquet attended by 160 people on Nov. 11.
Following the lunch, nearly half of the diners were stricken with vomiting, twitching and diarrhea, resulting in the hospitalization of 39 people.
Nitrite, which looks very much like salt, is used by some chefs in stewing meat. Health experts, however, warn 0.2 grams of the chemical could poison an adult and three grams is enough to kill.
Source: Xinhua
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