THE Education Department of Northeast China's Liaoning Province has ordered an immediate halt to soybean milk consumption in all primary and middle schools in the province.

The soybean milk ban followed a series of poisoning incidents last month.

More than 2,500 pupils became ill after drinking soybean milk on the same day. Three later died, according to the Beijing based Jinghua Shibao.

A natural ingredient in the drink was said to have been the cause of the trouble.

On the afternoon of March 19, Yang Xiaoyu (not her real name), a grade-three pupil of a Tiexi Primary School in Haicheng city in Liaoning felt very uncomfortable after school. Her father Yang brought her to nearby Guangji Hospital immediately.

What surprised him was that hundreds of parents were already waiting at the gate of the emergency treatment ward. All the children were suffering from sickness, vomiting and twitching. All came from local schools.

That morning, children drank a brand of soybean milk recommended by the local educational commission. It was the first time they had consumed soybean milk produced by Anshan Baorun Dairy Co Ltd.

After drinking, many children complained of stomach aches and the condition of some became serious. Early on the morning of April 1, Li Yang, a girl from the Tiexi Primary School died. The result of the examination of another dead child concluded she also had died from poisoning.

After the news began to spread, about 100 parents took their children to doctors in Beijing, worried that the local hospital in Haicheng would be unable to cure their children.

The three cases of death obviously shocked and worried the parents of affected children. But the local hospital held back from giving a specific answer to questions about the case.

The city government of Haicheng held a meeting with parents on April 4. Officials reiterated at the meeting that encouraging children to take the soybean milk was decided by higher level officials because such milk benefits health.

On April 16, the reason for the poisoning was found, according to Xinhua News Agency. A natural gene in the soybean milk was identified as the culprit, said a group of experts from the Ministry of Health and from Liaoning Province.

They said treatment was not necessary unless the symptoms were serious. After treatment, people affected would quickly recover without after-effects.

(Star News)