JOHANNESBURG, Jan 12 (Reuters) - South African utility Eskom [ESCJ.UL] said on Monday cholera tests were negative for the 61 workers who fell ill last week at its Medupi power project.

"All of the tests that we have sent in came back negative on cholera...we are leading more to believe it was food poisoning," spokesman Fani Zulu said.

The 61 workers reported for work on Monday when the site in the Limpopo province reopened, he said. The construction site was shut for two days after the men became ill.

The disease has already killed more than 1,800 people in neighbouring Zimbabwe since it broke out last August. It has since spread to South Africa, and Limpopo, which is adjacent to the Zimbabwe border, has recorded 1,634 cases of the disease. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; editing by Sue Thomas)

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