Fast food vendor held after 100 kids fall ill in Bihar

A fast food vendor was arrested on Thursday in Bihar's Bhagalpur district after nearly 100 children fell ill after eating contaminated chow mein, police said.

Samples of the fast food have been collected by police for forensic examination.

Police arrested chow mein vendor Dhananjay Kumar.

"Soon after the children ate chow mein at a village fair in Bade and Khushalpur villages, they first complained of uneasiness followed by vomiting. Some of them fainted," Harishankar Prasad Singh, a district official said.

All the children were admitted to the primary health centre at Jagdishpur but were later shifted to Bhagalpur Medical College and Hospital after their condition deteriorated late Wednesday night, official said.

Doctors treating the children, most of them aged between 4 to 6 years, said that it was a case of food poisoning.

"All are now out of danger and would be discharged by Thursday evening," said R.C. Mandal, superintendent of the medical college.

District civil surgeon Ram Chander Prasad said that a team led by a food inspector will investigate the incident.