LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's Health Ministry says food donated for a nutrition program became contaminated with pesticide in an Andean hamlet and poisoned 89 children and five adults. Three children have died.
The ministry says the National Food Assistance Program distributed the food at a school in Redondo. The hamlet is 310 miles (500 kilometers) northwest of Lima.
Officials say the food was accidentally contaminated while it was being prepared Tuesday.
Police Capt. Aurelio Huaman said Wednesday that prosecutors are investigating what happened.
A similar case occurred in 1999 at a Peruvian town near Cuzco. Food there also was contaminated with pesticide and killed 24 children.
