Iced tea, orange juice and other cold drinks at fast-food outlets in Taipei, including the Japanese chain MOS Burger and the US chain KFC, contain high levels of bacteria that could cause cramps and diarrhea, officials said yesterday.
The contamination was a sign that the drinks were not properly refrigerated or were tainted by workers with poor hygiene, Taipei City Government said in a report on its Web site.
The results were based on random inspections of 27 restaurants last month, the statement said. The contaminated drinks contained coliform, a family of bacteria present in air, water and soil.
Inspectors found the most contaminated drinks at MOS Burger, where six of a total 48 samples, or 13 percent, of iced tea and iced coffee tested positive for the bacteria.
Thirty samples were taken at KFC and two of them, both in orange juice, tested positive, the statement said.
US burger chain McDonald's was the most hygienic, with all 143 samples passing the tests, the statement said.
MOS Burger's Taiwan office said in a statement that it was surprised by the results and would bring inspectors from Japan to help tighten quality control.
KFC's Taiwan office said it would strengthen worker training to resolve the problem.
The fast-food chains were asked to take those drinks off the menu. They were also fined up to NT$150,000, the government said.
Coliform bacteria is commonly found in the intestinal tract but does not necessarily make people ill. It can cause severe cramps and diarrhea.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS