Educational authorities in Yunnan have launched a widespread investigation into a subsidized school meals project, following a series of suspected food poisoning cases affecting hundreds of students in the province.

The Yunnan education department has set up eight teams to inspect rural schools that since last month have been subsidized by the central government to provide nutritious daily meals for students.

The decision was taken after about one-third of the 1,000 pupils at Dingla Primary School in Zhenxiong county were taken to a hospital suffering stomachache, diarrhea or fever after eating a lunch prepared by the school's canteen on April 9.