Over 200 Cambodian schoolchildren fall ill after eating tainted food

Some 222 Cambodian schoolchildren and three adults became sick after eating tainted food that a group of generous people bought from a market for them, a local police chief said Saturday.

Vong Sareth, police chief of western Pursat province's Phnom Kravanh district, said the children at a primary school fell ill on Friday evening after they ate the food which was made of rice, grilled pork, and slices of cucumber.

"They had nausea, stomach ache and diarrhea, about three hours after they ate the contaminated food," he told Xinhua.

He said the ill-fated children had been rushed to hospitals after the accident, as the sample of the food was sent to the provincial food safety bureau for an examination.

Vong Sareth said that the children were all in stable condition and some had recovered and left the hospitals on Saturday.

Checks on food are rare in Cambodia, where safety regulations are lax.

In November last year, tainted traditional dessert sickened 139 schoolchildren at a Christian-run school in northwestern Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province. Enditem