In the fourth mass food poisoning incident to hit China in a week, thirty-four students were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning after eating lunch at a factory cafeteria in Fujian Province on Tuesday, local food safety authorities said Wednesday.

The food watchdog is analyzing food from the cafeteria of the Guanda Garment Company in the provincial capital Fuzhou after receiving reports that more than 30 students from two technical secondary schools had fallen ill on Tuesday.

The officials suspect that mushrooms might be the source of the poisoning.

The students, who were doing field work in the firm, developed cramps, vomiting and diarrhea and were taken to hospital Tuesday afternoon and diagnosed with suspected food poisoning.

All the students have been discharged after being treated.

The exact cause of the food poisoning is still unknown and an investigation is in progress.

The incident follows hot on the heels of three other mass poisonings in the country this month.

On Monday, more than 60 migrant workers in Shanghai were hospitalized with food poisoning after eating supper at a construction site cafeteria.

Also on Monday, 19 middle-school students were hospitalized with suspected food poisoning after eating lunch in a school cafeteria in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

On April 9, more than 200 people fell ill and one person died in Harbin in northeastern China after they ate a hospital breakfast suspected of being contaminated with rat poison.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2007)