Thu, Mar 28, 2024 page1

• Two die, 11 ill after eating at Taipei restaurant

  WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning

  • By Jonathan Chin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writers, with CNA
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  Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.

  All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei.

  The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital.

  

  Taipei Department of Health Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan speaks at a news conference yesterday.

  Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

  A 66-year-old man who dined at the venue on Tuesday last week died of multiple organ failure at Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital at 11:35am yesterday, becoming the second fatality from the mystery illness.

  Tri-Service General Hospital yesterday reported that a 53-year-old woman who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week is receiving critical care for acidosis, septic shock and liver failure, department Commissioner Chen Yen-yuan (陳彥元) said.

  Every customer of the restaurant who fell ill had consumed flat noodle dishes and showed symptoms within 12 hours of eating, he said.

  Their condition progressed rapidly, with an acute decline in liver function, fulminant hepatitis, liver failure and septic shock, Chen said.

  Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said on the sidelines of a separate event that health officials on Sunday were alerted by their New Taipei City counterparts of a suspected food poisoning incident after one of the ill diners received treatment at a hospital there.

  That person was the first to die in connection to the case.

  The Taipei Department of Health immediately inspected the venue to collect samples and ordered improvements to be made to sanitation standards, Chiang said.

  The Taipei City Government on Tuesday ordered the restaurant’s Xinyi District (信義) venue to close and has since extended the order to other branches of the chain, all of which are in the city, he said.

  However, investigators did not discover any of the bacteria commonly associated with food poisoning in the food samples, he said.

  When asked to comment on whether the restaurant’s food could have been deliberately tampered with, Chiang said the possibility of the poisoning being the result of a malicious act has not been ruled out.

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and law enforcement officials are involved in the investigation and every possibility is being explored, he said.

  Meanwhile, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it had seized surveillance footage and collected evidence at the restaurant’s premises early yesterday with the help of police and health officials.

  It has assigned a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation.

  On Tuesday evening, FDA personnel and Taipei City Government officials collected additional samples of food that have a high risk of contamination from the restaurant, FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) said.

  Testing of the samples — which included vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and sauces — would take at least two weeks to complete, as microbial cultures must be grown to perform the procedure, she said.

  Although the restaurant passed an inspection two years ago, Taipei officials found multiple code breaches, including cockroach droppings, improperly stored kitchen knives and missing employee health records, she said.

  Last night, the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a meeting with specialists, who suggested that pathogens such as "bongkrekic acid" could be involved, but Taiwan needs to acquire the standard substance for testing it, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said.

  The experts would not rule out any possibilities, and forensic autopsies would be performed today, he said.

  Additional reporting by Chiu Chih-jou
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