Seven people have been detained in connection with the mass food poisoning of children in public kindergartens in several districts of Tashkent province.
Three of them are officials of a dairy company, while the others are executives of outsourcing companies that supply food to kindergartens.
The First Deputy director of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health Committee, Nurmat Atabekov said that as of the morning of September 27, 694 children were in hospitals, with 421 awaiting being discharged.
A total of 1,922 children were checked up, including those who had been in contact with the sick (some media reported over 1,900 cases). Half of these children—959—were discharged due to the absence of clinical symptoms.
Preliminary investigation found that kefir from Shark Milk Products could have been the cause of the poisoning. Reportedly, kindergartens in Buka, Pskent, Bekabad, Akkurgan, and Kuyichirchik districts of the province are serviced by three outsourcing companies. All of them purchase fermented milk products from Shark Milk Product.
The Office of the Children's Ombudsperson reported that the Investigative Department of the Tashkent province police department opened a criminal case on September 25 under the Violation of sanitary legislation or epidemic control regulations charge.
