One person has died and 50 more have been hospitalized after being poisoned with industrial cooking salt in Longxi town in southwest China's Guizhou province.

A doctor from the People's Hospital in Yuqing County found they had ingested nitrite, a poisonous chemical present in industrial salt.

The patients ate rice noodles in some local restaurants several hours before they were hospitalized.

Local police are questioning a local man in relation to claims he fraudulently sold industrial salt as edible salt.

Unscrupulous traders can make enormous profits selling industrial salt as edible salt. Edible salt costs 2,000 yuan (254 US dollars) per ton, while industrial salt costs 230 yuan (29 US dollars) per ton.
 
Editor: Yan