More than half of the 240 students hospitalized for food poisoning on Monday in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have recovered and returned to school.

Those still left in hospital were in a stable condition last night, sources said.

Students of Dianshi Town High School in Hengshan County began reporting headaches, stomach pains and vomiting 2 hours after lunch in the school cafeteria. Affected students were immediately sent to hospital, Wang Xingzheng, the school's safety and security manager, said yesterday.

"The symptoms were not that serious but we have had them all hospitalized for safety's sake," an official with the Hengshan Health Department said, refusing to give his name.

Health and disease control departments have taken food samples for testing.

The school's Wang thought perhaps vegetables eaten on Monday had too much pesticide residue on them, or there could have been problems with edible oil purchased the day before.

The school closed the cafeteria. The Ministry of Education earlier ordered local education departments to inspect schools for cleanliness. Food and drinking water was to be looked at.

Meanwhile, 66 pupils who developed fever and diarrhoea after eating in a school in Southwest China's Sichuan Province were hospitalized last week, said local government sources.

(China Daily September 20, 2006)