Officials have confirmed that the recent food-poisoning incident linked to sandwich pastries in Xishui county, Guizhou province, was not a case of deliberate poisoning.

In a statement released on Monday, the local food and drug safety office said that 136 of the 187 people who ate the pastries were hospitalized. By 2 pm, three patients had recovered and were discharged, with the remaining patients showing significant improvement and no life-threatening conditions.

A joint expert panel diagnosed the cases as acute gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella. Follow-up with the 51 people who were not hospitalized found no fever, diarrhea or other related symptoms.

The county government had received reports on Wednesday of patients seeking treatment after eating sandwich pastries from a single brand and developing symptoms such as fever and diarrhea.

Epidemiological and related investigations are ongoing.