Schools should pay special attention to food safety, according to a recent announcement made by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

School canteens should improve the professionalism of their staff, and upgrade their facilities and management, the report urged.

School leaders are required to closely supervise school canteens which have already been privatized, and local health authorities should keep a close eye on the small private restaurants near the schools, said the report.

According to an MOE rule issued last year, school leaders should be directly responsible for food safety in their schools.

The rate of food poisoning incidents is reportedly declining, but large-scale canteen poisonings still happen, according to local media.

The latest case of food poisoning was reported in mid-April in Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Guangdong Pharmaceutical University in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.

Dozens of university students were hospitalized.

Initial investigations have identified bacteria as the cause of the recent case of food poisoning, said Mao Xinwu, an official with the municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

(China Daily 04/24/2006 page3)