30 people in Cambodia, most of them children, came down with food poisoning after eating homemade noodles contaminated with chewing tobacco that had dropped into the noodle batter from the mouth of the cook, a 39-year-old woman.

Sieng Sang, an avid tobacco chewer like many poor Cambodian women, said she had not realized a wad had dropped into the flour as she was talking.

Police gave her a lesson in hygiene and told her to be more careful when opening her mouth while cooking.