More than 60 residents of the Primorye Territory, including 17 children, have been hospitalized with acute intestinal infection after eating cream cakes made at a local pastry shop.
The poisoning was first reported on March 22 and as of Monday has been registered in three neighboring areas of the region.
"Forty-one patients were placed in a regional hospital and 20 people ended up in an infectious diseases hospital in Ussuriisk," the local authorities said in a statement.
At least 22 patients have been diagnosed with salmonella infection, which could be lethal in extreme cases.
Russia's consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has suspended the work at the pastry shop after finding numerous violations of sanitary norms at the facility. A total of 46 kilograms of cream cakes have been confiscated from local retail food outlets.
A criminal investigation has been launched on charges of food safety violations, which led to mass poisoning.
VLADIVOSTOK, March 29 (RIA Novosti)