More than 150 students became sick after eating in a school dining hall in northeast China's Jilin Province, local authorities said Saturday.

The victims, from the No. 3 Experimental Primary School in Changyi District in the provincial capital of Changchun, began vomiting and had diarrhea after eating lunch Thursday.

According to a city government spokesman, the children ate rice, cake, and boiled Chinese cabbage with green bean noodles. They also drank soybean.

Investigators from the health department suspected food poisoning. They are awaiting the results of tests done on the food.

Altogether, 153 students went to see doctors. Among them, eight showed no abnormal symptoms and have been discharged, 105 are being treated as outpatients and 40 others are still in the hospital.

All of them are in stable condition.

In the meantime, the school dining hall has been closed.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2008)