Criminal Case Is To Be Opened Into Ukrainian Butter Poisoning Of Kids In St.pete

Law enforcement agencies of St. Petersburg are considering opening a judicial enquiry into widespread cases of children contracting dysentery after consuming Ukrainian-made butter in various kindergartens in four districts of St. Petersburg. The outbreak of intestinal infection was reported in St. Petersburg on September 20 through 30 among children and personnel of kindergartens in four districts of the city. A total of 656 people were infected during the period, with 303 diagnosed as having dysentery. 33 children and 3 adults were hospitalized. A local center of the State Sanitary and Epidemic Monitoring Service has disclosed that butter was a likely cause of the infection, as revealed by tests conducted in Pasteur Institute labs. Media has alleged the butter was shipped to St. Petersburg, among other places, from Ivano-Frankovsk, Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Novgorod Region has banned the sale of butter made by Ukraine's OAO Tlumachsky Butter Dairy over fears of dysentery. Sources in the regional center of the State Sanitary and Epidemic Monitoring Service told RIA Novosti that Alexander Petrov, the top sanitation official for the region, had ordered the ban on Ukrainian butter. The decision was caused by the fact that the dysentery outbreak in St. Petersburg was reported after consumption of the Tlumachsky Butter Dairy products, the sources elaborated.