A suspected food poisoning incident at a Hi-Lai Harbour restaurant at Kaohsiung Arena was not caused by norovirus or rotavirus, but might have been caused by pathogenic bacteria, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
Testing for viral pathogens was negative for the two common causes of diarrhea, CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said.
As of 9am on Monday, the number of people who had sought medical attention after dining at the upscale buffet restaurant in Zuoying District (左營) on Friday and Saturday last week had increased to 52 since Saturday, when 11 diners were first reported to have fallen ill, the Kaohsiung Health Department said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
All of the 52 people reported diarrhea and abdominal pain, while a handful also reported nausea and vomiting, the department said.
It had previously collected specimens from seven people who fell ill after eating at the branch and from 48 employees who handle food at the restaurant, as well as food samples.
Testing on the customers and employees came back negative for viral pathogens, meaning it is likely that pathogenic bacteria were involved, Tseng said.
Common bacteria that cause foodborne illness include Vibrio parahaemolyticus, salmonella, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae and Clostridium botulinum, she said, adding that testing was being conducted to clarify the situation.
Earlier on Monday, the owner of the Hi-Lai Harbour branch said that it was working to improve food safety and would take full responsibility if it is found to be linked to the suspected food poisoning.
Hi-Lai Foods Co, the restaurant’s owner, in a statement on Monday apologized to those who were ill after dining at the restaurant, saying the cause of the incident was under investigation, and that it would conduct a post-incident review and devise operational improvement measures.
Hi-Lai Foods said that it would shoulder all responsibility based on the investigation results and initiate insurance claim applications, adding that its affiliated restaurants are all covered by product and public liability policies.
Pending the release of the test results, the Kaohsiung restaurant voluntarily closed on Saturday and Sunday to undergo extensive cleaning.
It remained closed through yesterday to conduct staff training on food sanitation standards to ensure improvements are made, the company said.
The department said that the restaurant should implement improvement plans based on inspection and investigation results, while bolstering internal controls and retraining staff to ensure food safety before the end of the suspension period yesterday.
City health officials are to conduct a follow-up inspection this week and if sanitation issues persist, the restaurant could face a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$200 million (US$1,843.77 to US$6.15 million), the department said, citing the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
A total of 400 foreign “high- level” professionals have been naturalized as Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens over the past decade as the government has eased nationality rules to attract talent from a wider range of fields, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The 400th high-level professional, who works in the electronics industry, was approved for ROC citizenship on Aug. 26, the MOI said. The MOI quoted the newly naturalized citizen as saying that Taiwan is a leader in fields such as semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, artificial intelligence development and energy technology. He also said
China has warned that it could cancel a planned US-China leaders’ summit if Washington approves new arms sales to Taiwan, a Japanese media outlet quoted sources as saying yesterday. US President Donald Trump, “apparently eager to showcase some diplomatic achievements ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, places great importance on holding the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Japan’s Kyodo News reported. “While preparing for Xi’s upcoming trip, China has restated its position that the Taiwan issue is a ‘red line’ in bilateral relations,” the report said. The report said that when Xi met with Trump in Beijing in May, Xi said
RARE PEEK: The footage released showed one of the bears staying in a cave for as long as 70 days, providing the first record of Formosan black bear’s overwintering The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released tracking records of released Formosan black bears for the first time, showing that they get much closer to human settlements than previously thought. The agency said it had captured two bears, Da Qu-ali (達古阿里) and Aziman (阿里曼), in indigenous villages in Hualien County and began to track them with a camera-mounted satellite collar after releasing them back into the wild. The results confirmed that the bears have moved from deep mountain areas into lowland hills closer to human communities, leading to an increase in human-bear conflicts, it said. The agency has introduced artificial intelligence-assisted early
DIPLOMATIC TOUR: Chinese President Xi Jinping began a series of overseas visits last month to Kyrgyzstan, Egypt and India, aimed at securing leverage, an official said Recent Chinese diplomatic and military moves are aimed at creating pressure ahead of a planned meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump, National Security Council adviser Huang Chung-yen (黃重諺) said. Trump when visiting China in May extended an invitation to Xi to visit Washington on Sept. 24. China is yet to officially announce plans for Xi’s visit to the US. In an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) on Thursday, Huang said Xi’s overseas visits, China’s “gray zone” activities along the First Island Chain and efforts to expand its trade surplus with the
RSS