A food poisoning outbreak in Taipei is limited to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 (Xinyi A13), Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said yesterday, after two people who felt ill after eating at another branch of the restaurant tested negative for bongkrek acid poisoning.
The outbreak occurred among people who ate at Polam Kopitiam in Xinyi A13, from March 19 to 24, with most of them having eaten a stir-fried flat rice noodle dish called char kway teow (炒粿條).
Bongkrek acid is a rare toxin produced by contamination with a bacterium, especially in fermented coconut or corn food products. On Friday, it was found in blood samples taken from eight people who had been hospitalized after eating at the restaurant, including two people who died.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan Department of Public Health
As of 5:30pm yesterday, 31 people had reported feeling ill after eating at the restaurant chain. Aside from the two people who died, five are in intensive care, three are in general wards and 21 had returned home to rest, the CDC said.
One of the five people in intensive care is improving, while the remaining four are in a coma, Wang said.
As bongkrek acid affects the liver, kidneys and brain, their conditions are still critical, he added.
Blood samples were also taken from 13 people who did not need to be hospitalized, but had reported feeling ill after eating at the restaurant in Xinyi A13, Wang wrote on Facebook.
Of the 13, four have tested positive for bongkrek acid, while nine results have not yet come back, he said.
Two people who ate at the Raohe Night Market (饒河夜市) branch of the restaurant tested negative for the toxin, he added.
A comprehensive analysis of the data received so far suggests the food poisoning outbreak is limited to the restaurant in Xinyi A13 from March 19 to 24, so people should not be overly concerned, he said.
Of the ingredients collected at the restaurant for testing, the soy sauce and dark soy sauce tested negative for bongkrek acid, while the pandan leaves were not artificial, Wang wrote, adding that other ingredients are still being tested.
As the flat rice noodles collected from the restaurant (which had been restocked on March 23), the supplier and other businesses that had bought from the supplier tested negative for bongkrek acid, flat rice noodles sold on the domestic market are unlikely to have been affected, he said.
"I still think the flat rice noodles are the most likely ingredient to have caused the food poisoning outbreak, and I speculate the problem occurred in the Polam Kopitiam branch in Xinyi A13, with only that batch of flat rice noodles affected, but they have been used up,” Wang said.
The Taipei City Government on Saturday fined Polam Kopitiam in Xinyi A13 NT$2 million (US$62,520) because its product liability insurance had expired and NT$500,000 for not reporting one of its branches when asked.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the restaurant’s three other branches in the city did not have valid product liability and public liability insurance, so the Taipei Department of Health would also fine them up to NT$3 million each.
The health department on Saturday began inspecting food courts at department stores and large business venues.
Yesterday, it said that the food courts of two department stores — the Eslite (誠品) Spectrum Nanxi Store (南西店) and the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) Taipei Station Store (台北站前店) — had been inspected on Saturday.
Of the 39 vendors inspected at the two food courts, 16 had environment or hygiene issues, one did not have product liability insurance, and several were unable to provide registration documents when asked to submit them, the health department said.
The vendors were asked to rectify the issues within a given period, and would be fined if they fail their next inspection.
Additional reporting by CNA
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS