The last eight sick students have been cured and discharged from hospital Wednesday after bacteria-socked milk poisoned about 200 middle and primary school children in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, local authorities said.

Samples of the milk that had been drunk in schools in Xunyang County, Shaanxi Province, were tested and found to have a bacterium density of 16,400 per gram of milk, far exceeding the limit of 10 in per gram, said Zhang Jiman, director of a laboratory of the county disease control center.

Tests of 100 ml of milk also found 230 E.Coli bacteria per gram, while the safe limit was three, said Zhang.

About 100 middle and primary school students started to vomit and had stomach aches after drinking school breakfast milk Monday. Twenty were treated with intravenous drips, said Zhang.

Similar milk food poisoning cases were also reported in Shaanxi's Mian County Monday, where more than 100 students showed the same symptoms. All of the hospitalized children in Mian County have been discharged from hospital Tuesday.

The milk was delivered to the schools by Baoji-based Shaanxi Renrengao Dairy Co., Ltd., a large milk processor and supplier in the province.

All schools in the two counties have been asked by local education authorities to stop using Renrengao's milk as breakfast for students.

More samples have been sent to Shaanxi Provincial Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau for further testing.

(Xinhua News Agency April 22, 2010)