8000 Japanese sickened by milk

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Japan orders milk scare plant to halt production

 

July 3, 2000

Web posted at: 1:38 PM EDT (1738 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/07/03/food.japan.poisoning.reut/index.html

 

 

TOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - Government officials have ordered a plant of Japan's

largest dairy producer to halt production indefinitely after batches of its milk

left more than 8,000 people with food poisoning, the Jiji news agency said on

Monday.

 

The victims in eight western Japan prefectures suffered symptoms such as stomach

pains, vomiting and diarrhea after drinking low-fat milk produced by Snow Brand

Milk Products Co Ltd

 

The Osaka municipal government issued an order on Sunday ordering the plant to

suspend operations indefinitely, Jiji said. The order would not be lifted until

the safety of the plant had been confirmed.

 

The number of people affected had reached 8,282 by Monday afternoon, Jiji said.

 

Some 100 people have been taken to hospital since late last week after drinking

the milk, with about 40 still in hospital on Sunday, health officials said.

 

An Osaka police official said they were conducting an investigation into the

case. Inspections will continue at the factory and health officials said the

contaminant was a strain of a staphylococcus bacteria.

 

The western Japan region suffered a deadly food poisoning outbreak caused by the

[e. coli] O-157 bacteria in the summer of 1996 that killed 11 people and left

more than 9,500 others ill.

 

The Health and Welfare Ministry said in its 1996 final report on that crisis

that it was unable to specify the source and route by which the deadly O-157

bacteria spread, creating one of the biggest health scandals since World War

Two.

 

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