The Taipei City Hospital said yesterday that it will provide free kidney-stone screening for infants under the age of one residing in the city, because of melamine contamination in Chinese dairy products and other food items.
The service will be available from tomorrow through Oct. 27 at the Zhongxing, Renai, Heping, Zhongxiao, Yangming and Woman and Children branches of the hospital, hospital deputy superintendent Huang Chun-cheng (黃遵誠) said.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Parents who fear their children might have consumed melamine-tainted formula or food can take the children to one of the branches for urine tests and ultrasound examinations and the Taipei City Government will pay the costs, Huang said.
Meanwhile, the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) Department of Animal Husbandry reiterated yesterday that testing shows that fresh milk produced in Taiwan is melamine-free.
The National Animal Industry Foundation and the Dairy Association tested fresh milk at factories of 17 large, mid-sized and small producers nationwide.
All 28 samples from the 12 major milk producers were free of melamine, the department said on Monday.
Five samples tested at factories of smaller milk producers were also determined to be free from melamine, it said yesterday.
Department Deputy Director Lee Chun-chin (李春進) said the public can rest assured that fresh milk produced in Taiwan was safe.
He reiterated advice that consumers buy milk products with “Made in Taiwan” certification to ensure they are getting a safe product.
Lee said consumers should not be concerned about buying locally produced milk powder because it was made with 100 percent Taiwan-produced fresh milk.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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