Ateacherhas beendetainedafterallegedlypoisoning23 pupils in China,accordingto the state media reports.

TheteacheridentifiedasMr. Wangof aschoolinJiaozuoCity inHenanprovincewas arrested after 23childrenwerehospitalised due topoisoning,Xinhuanews agencysaid.

Jiaozuopolicesaidtheteacherisbelievedto havepoisonedthechildren’sfoodwith sodium nitrate, which can be toxic and possibly fatal when overexposed.
Thechildrenstartedfainting and vomiting aftereatingtheir breakfast porridge.

The News Agency stated that one child remains seriously ill in hospital while seven others are still being treated.The other 15childreninvolvedhave since beendischarged.

The school has temporarily been closed, and investigations have commenced to investigate the motive behind the incident.

This incident had come just before a new regulation took effect Monday, requiring school officials from kindergartens to secondary schools in China to dine with their students in canteens to prevent food safety scandals.

Theregulationsrequireschoolsto publicly identifyfood sourcesandsuppliers, and set up risk prevention and control systems.

Previous reports haveindicatednumerousattacks targeted toschoolchildrenby people bearing grudges or considered mentally ill.

In March thisyear, 36 primaryschoolstudents in southwest China’sSichuan provincewere hospitalised aftereating“mouldy food.“

Another 42people, mostlyschoolchildren, werereportedto havediedin 2002 aftereatingsnackslaced with rat poison in the eastern city of Nanjing.Thekillerwas swiftly sentenced todeathandexecuted.