Food with worms, snails, mold: Dozens of students fall sick at Shanghai school

A school and a food supply company in Shanghai are under investigation for allegedly providing spoiled food that caused dozens of students to fall sick.

Photos and videos circulated on Chinese social media Weibo claimed that 76 students at the Lingang Foreign Language School Affiliated to Shanghai World Foreign Language Education Group in suburban Fengxian District had been repeatedly suffering from symptoms such as stomach ache, vomiting or diarrhea.

Some parents made a surprise visit to the school canteen recently and found it was dirty with rotten and spoiled food materials, such as moldy bananas, vegetables with snails, wormy sesame, and mildewy ingredients.

The school, a private boarding educational institution, is said to charge up to 1,400 yuan (US$193) a month for meals.

The district's education bureau said on Thursday that it has launched an investigation in cooperation with multiple government agencies. It also urged the school to terminate its contract with the supplier and find a new company temporarily to ensure food supply for the school.

Initial investigation found that the MSG, sugar, cooking oil and soup bases in the canteen met relevant food safety standards. Further investigation is under way into alleged violations of food safety regulations, such as the existence of snails and worms.

The bureau said it will hold the school administrators and other responsible people to account based on the investigation results and enhance supervision of school canteens and third-party food suppliers in the district to ensure food safety on campus.