An investigation of 29 university campus restaurants found 21 to be in contravention of food safety regulations, with breaches ranging from bacterial contamination to serving expired food, the Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee said.
The probe, which took place in April and last month, rated restaurants on campuses in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Changhua City and Yilan City, on 24 points of compliance, committee official Wang Chih-hung (王志宏) told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.
Eight restaurants met all food safety requirements, while only one — Zhi-De Vegetarian at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei — was also in full compliance with environmental and fire safety rules.
Photo courtesy of the Consumer Protection Committee
The most common food safety contravention — found at 10 of the eateries — was failure to arrange annual health checks for employees, which risks the spread of infectious lung or liver diseases, Wang said.
Another eight restaurants had unsanitary conditions, such as greasy floors or standing water, while six had improperly covered food products, four had cockroaches on site and three had frozen food stored at above minus-18°C, Wang added.
Of the two restaurants cited for using expired ingredients, the most serious contravention was at Ba-Yang Snacks at NTNU, where inspectors found six outdated products, including pickled vegetables that expired in 2018, committee member Wang Te-ming (王德明) said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare is investigating the findings at the restaurant, but has yet to issue a fine.
The committee said that beverages at seven of 20 restaurants were found to have Enterobacteriaceae levels higher than the legal limit of 10 colony-forming units per milliliter.
Of those, Hsin Chi Yeh Barbeque Rice near Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City and Ji Pin Hong Kong-style lunchbox store had contamination levels greater than 1,000 times the legal limit, the committee said.
Beloved Xiaolongbao, near Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan, had the most overall contraventions, including eight for food safety and seven related to its use of gas cylinders, it said.
All 22 restaurants checked for frying oil quality passed inspection, it said.
The inspections resulted in three restaurants being fined a combined NT$215,000 for safety issues related to improper use of liquefied gas cylinders and one for breaching recycling laws, it said.
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