An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night.
It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said.
The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite the major discovery.
“This is not the conclusion of the case. Prosecutors would make that judgement after examining all evidence. Aside from the specimens collected from deceased patients, we will also continue testing specimens collected from patients who are being treated at hospitals,” Wang said.
Tests would also be carried out on ingredients collected from restaurants and rice noodle suppliers, he said.
Wang said that the preliminary results were generally in sync with the conclusion reached at an expert meeting on Wednesday, where they identified bongkrekic acid as the likely cause of the food poisoning.
As of yesterday afternoon, 18 people had been reported as experiencing food poisoning after eating rice noodles at Polam Kopitiam in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) from Tuesday last week to Sunday, data from the Centers for Disease Control showed.
Two have died, while six are still being treated in hospitals and 10 are recovering at home, data showed.
The investigation would focus on whether the outbreak was caused by endogenous toxins from food ingredients, or toxins added to the food by people, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) told reporters yesterday before attending a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee in Taipei.
“There are three types of food poisoning: The first type is caused by microorganisms, such as norovirus. The second type is caused by endogenous toxins from food ingredients, such as bongkrekic acid, while the third type is caused by toxins added to food by people,” Hsueh said.
Experts at the meeting on Wednesday night said that the case is unlikely to have been caused by microorganisms, Hsueh said, adding that the investigation would focus on whether the case falls under the second or third types.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the poisoning was fabricated, he said.
Asked whether local health officials were slow in reacting to the non-typical food poisoning case, Hsueh said they all followed standard procedures to test patients as a majority of food poisoning cases are caused by microorganisms.
“They eventually realized this was not a typical food poisoning case when more patients were brought in with symptoms progressing from vomiting to liver or kidney failure within just 12 hours. We were also on alert and quickly invited experts to investigate the cause,” Hsueh said.
Wang also said at a news conference after a weekly Cabinet meeting that, unlike other collective food poisoning cases, where multiple people consumed food together at the same time and showed symptoms afterward, patients, in this case, dined at the restaurant at different times.
One could only determine if they were poisoned by retrospectively tracing their whereabouts before they showed symptoms, Wang said.
Meanwhile, the legal representative of Polam Kopitiam as well as a branch manager and chef were banned from leaving the country by prosecutors yesterday for their “suspected involvement” in what is believed to be a food poisoning outbreak.
Additional reporting by CNA
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