China's state news agency said Monday that 11 people died and at least 120 were sickened after consuming vinegar that had been put in barrels once used to store toxic anti-freeze.
The Xinhua news agency said residents of Sangzhu village in China's northwest Xinjiang region consumed the vinegar during a large Ramadan feast on Saturday, following a day of fasting. All the victims were ethnic Muslims. Xinhua said children as young as six were among the dead.
Earlier this month, officials in north China's Shanxi Province denied allegations that vinegar produced there had been tainted with an additive of cheap acid.
China has been hit with numerous food safety scandals in recent years, many involving the addition of dangerous additives to foods to lower the cost of production.
In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 were sickened by milk made from powder laced with melamine, an industrial compound that was added to give misleadingly high results in protein tests.