Special working group, headed by the First Deputy Prosecutor General Bakhriddin Valiyev, has been set up to investigate the mass food poisoning of children in Tashkent province, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

A criminal case has been opened under the Violation of sanitary legislation or epidemic control regulations of the Criminal Code. The suspects in the case are executives of private companies that outsource food services to government-managed kindergartens.

Reportedly, the Prosecutor General's Office has taken over the oversight of the criminal case and has formed a special working group led by First Deputy Prosecutor General Bakhriddin Valiyev with an aim to ensure a thorough, complete, and high-quality investigation,.

As part of the investigation, a full medical examination and treatment of all children in the kindergartens to which the outsourcing companies supplied products has been launched. The children's condition is considered stable, with no serious cases.

In addition, an audit of the outsourcing scheme in government-managed kindergartens for compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards has been launched to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

The Children's Ombudsperson pointed to the need to implement ongoing monitoring of child nutrition service system.

Furthermore, when entering into service contracts for child nutrition services, it is important to minimize the influence of the human factor in order to eliminate the risk of corruption, the statement stated.

The Children's Ombudsperson also proposed introducing a "strict mechanism" that would prevent businesses who supplied children with substandard food products from engaging in such activities again.

Last week, 1,922 children were admitted to hospitals in the Tashkent province with complaints of mass poisoning, and 960 were hospitalized. As of the morning of Sunday, September 28, 182 patients remained undergoing treatment.

According to preliminary investigation results, kefir from Shark Milk Product may have been the cause of the poisoning. It was reported that kindergartens in the 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 Adolat party party in the Legislative Chamber has recently submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the Prosecutor General's Office.