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The owner of a Shanghai delicatessen that sold food cooked with industrial salt, which killed one person and poisoned 25 others, was detained by police yesterday.

According to local authorities, 26 people showed symptoms of nausea, vomiting and rapid heartbeat after eating the food bought from Zhibin Delicatessen in the city's Pudong district on Saturday afternoon. One of them, a 38-year-old male surnamed Zhu, died before being sent to hospital.

Doctors from the Pudong District People's Hospital said 25 people were diagnosed with nitrite poisoning. Shanghai authorities confirmed yesterday they found industrial salt in the food.

All 25 people have been released from hospital.

The Shanghai industry and commerce bureau shut down the delicatessen, which was operating without a license. Processing equipment and more than 26 kg of processed food were confiscated.

Officials from the bureau said they would send the food for further testing. Related departments will continue to track the source of the industrial salt and its sales links.

Compared to edible salts, salts for industrial purposes are poisonous. Eating industrial salts can cause dizziness, headache, fatigue, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, irritability, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

The wholesale price of edible salt costs 0.8 yuan (12 US cents) per kg, while industrial salt costs 0.2 yuan per kg. Some traders make profits by selling industrial salt as edible salt to food shops.

Questions:

1. What were the 25 people diagnosed with, according to doctors from the Pudong District People's Hospital?

2. What was confiscated from the delicatessen?

3. What symptoms can be caused from eating industrial salts?

Answers:

1. Nitrite poisoning.

2. Processing equipment and more than 26 kg of processed food.

3. Dizziness, headache, fatigue, rapid heartbeat, drowsiness, irritability, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

（英语点津 Julie 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.