China ordered Friday local health authorities across the country to strengthen supervision of businesses that sell river or seafood, after 87 people fell ill after eating raw or half-cooked snails contaminated with parasites at a Beijing restaurant.

The urgent notice, issued by the Ministry of Health, ordered the destruction of aquatic products contaminated with parasites or disease-causing microbes, in line with food safety requirements and the law on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

Businesses that violate the laws and regulations on food safety will be punished severely, the notice said.

It also asked the restaurants concerned to improve processing conditions for aquatic products in order to ensure food safety and consumer's safety.

The 87 "snail" patients were diagnosed with a type of angiostrongyliasis, a disease caused by parasites that affects the brain and spinal cord, and can lead to meningitis, according to the Beijing Health Bureau.

To date, no deaths have been reported.

The youngest patient was 13 years old and the oldest 51. All the patients ate raw or undercooked Amazonian snails two to four weeks ago in outlets of the Shuguo Yanyi Restaurant, according to the Beijing Health Bureau.

The bureau confirmed in its earlier report that the infection was caused by processing problems in the restaurant, which failed to eradicate eel worms on the snails.

The restaurant was ordered to stop selling the snail dishes on August 8.

The Beijing health monitoring department posted an urgent notice on Monday, asking all restaurants in the city to stop providing customers with undercooked snails.

The municipal food safety office ordered on Tuesday that all agricultural markets, supermarkets, department stores and restaurants must stop buying, selling and processing the Amazonian snails.

The health bureau is trying to trace the suppliers of the snails contaminated with eel worms.

Amazonian snails originate in South America and first came to China in the 1980s as a delicacy. The first patient to fall ill after eating the snails was reported in Guangzhou, capital city of south China's Guangdong Province.

The large, black snails are a hot-selling aquatic product in big Chinese cities like Beijing.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2006)