The number of people who have reported feeling ill after eating at a restaurant chain linked to a food poisoning outbreak has risen to 28, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the outbreak, which is believed to have caused two deaths, does not appear to have spread further.
After the New Taipei City Department of Health on Sunday last week reported the first death due to suspected food poisoning, more people started reporting their symptoms to hospitals and the Taipei Department of Health.
They all ate at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13, between March 19 and Sunday last week, and most of them ate a stir-fried flat rice noodle dish, char kway teow (炒粿條).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday declared the cases a serious food poisoning incident, and the Taipei health department urged people who felt sick after eating at the restaurant to seek immediate medical attention.
On Friday, test results of blood samples from the deceased and six hospitalized people confirmed the presence of bongkrek acid, a deadly toxin typically produced when fermented coconut or corn is contaminated by the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans.
It is the first time bongkrek acid has been detected in Taiwan.
Three samples of flat rice noodles from the restaurant and 16 samples from the supplier tested negative for bongkrek acid, but the batch of flat rice noodles used in the dishes eaten by those who reported symptoms could not be tested.
As of 5:30pm yesterday, seven people had been hospitalized, five of whom were in intensive care, while 19 had returned home, the CDC said.
One of the new cases is a 37-year-old woman who ate curry rendang and drank iced milk tea at another branch of the restaurant at Raohe Night Market (饒河夜市) on Saturday last week. She reported symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, headache and general fatigue.
CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said that her case was included as the centers is accepting any report of suspected food poisoning from people who ate at any of the restaurant’s branches between March 19 and Tuesday.
A specimen was collected from the woman to determine if her symptoms are related to bongkrek acid poisoning at the department store branch, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said.
On Friday, the Taipei Department of Health inspected the Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13’s B3 food court, checking refrigerator temperatures, restaurant cleanliness and whether vendors’ product liability insurance was valid, it said yesterday.
Of the 27 vendors in the food court, 12 passed inspection, three had hygiene problems, nine had missing registration items — such as food ingredient purchase documents or food handlers’ routine medical checkup reports — and three were not operating, it said, adding that those that did not pass inspection were asked to improve by tomorrow.
The department said it would complete inspections of all food courts in 37 department stores in the city, as well as food courts it operates in large commercial venues within a month.
Additional reporting by CNA
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS