The Taoyuan Department of Public Health yesterday said it had received hundreds of suspected food poisoning reports in the past two days which might be related to a vendor at the Zhongzhen Market (忠貞市場) in Jhongli District (中壢) which sells Vietnamese banh mi.
The department began receiving reports from hospitals and local residents on Thursday noon regarding people having symptoms including diarrhea, vomiting and fever, after eating banh mi, from the same vendor, it said.
As of yesterday afternoon, 340 people were reported to have suffered suspected food poisoning, the department said.
Photo courtesy of the Taoyuan Department of Public Health
After conducting an on-site inspection at the vendor, inspectors found 14 food hygiene issues, including the interior temperature of the freezer not being cool enough, signs of disease vectors, staff wearing jewelry during food preparation and service, and food ingredients put on the ground and left uncovered.
The department said that it had ordered the vendor to suspend its business and to improve the environmental hygiene before tomorrow.
The vendor can resume its business only if it passes an inspection, or it might face a fine between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,893 and US$6.31 million) for violation of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), it said.
The department collected samples of the sandwich bread, stuffing, sauces, environmental specimen from the utensils and cutting board, as well as specimen from the vendor’s food handlers, it said.
The department said 235 of the reporter cases have sought medical treatment and 13 people had been hospitalized.
A hospital reported that specimen from some patients were tested positive for salmonella and rotavirus, it said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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