The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said it was launching a special food safety inspection campaign targeting restaurants and stalls serving foreign cuisine, after 520 people reportedly fell ill after eating at a banh mi shop in Taoyuan.
The Taoyuan Department of Public Health on Saturday said it received hundreds of suspected food poisoning reports of people who had consumed food from a banh mi vendor at the Zhongzhen Market (忠貞市場) in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
As of Monday, specimens from seven people and three food samples had tested positive for salmonella, it said, adding that an egg yolk paste was suspected to be the source of the contamination.
Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Taipei Times
FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) yesterday said that salmonella is a common pathogenic bacteria that causes food poisoning, and starting from yesterday to November, the agency is inspecting more than 200 shops and vendors selling foreign cuisine, especially those that sell ready-to-eat foods and salads.
FDA Division of Food Safety official Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智) said that salmonella bacteria are widely found in domestic and wild animals, and can be transmitted through contaminated food, water, the environment and the fecal-oral route.
Salmonella infection is usually caused by eating raw or undercooked eggs or egg products, dairy products, meat and poultry, contaminated fresh fruit and vegetables, and even processed foods, he said.
Egg shells can be contaminated with salmonella from chicken feces, so the bacteria could spread when food handlers prepare uncooked egg products, such as egg yolk paste, mayonnaise, salad dressing or tiramisu, he said, adding that they should use washed eggs or pasteurized liquid eggs to prevent bacterial contamination.
Food handlers should prevent cross-contamination by separating food containers, cutting boards, utensils and kitchen cloths for raw and cooked foods; keep the food preparation area clean; wash their hands often; follow hygiene guidelines; and avoid handling food if they have diarrhea, vomiting or illness, until 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped, Cheng said.
Lin said the incubation period for salmonella infection is usually about six to 72 hours, and symptoms include nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever and headache, and can last for four to seven days.
Infants, elderly people and immunocompromised people are at higher risk of developing more severe complications, so they should seek medical treatment immediately, he added.
FDA Northern Center Interim Director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) said it is running 43 special food inspection campaigns this year, 25 of which include testing for salmonella.
So far 11 campaigns have been finished, with 2,186 shops and vendors inspected, 1,720 of which passed, Liu said.
More than 3,000 shops are to be inspected in the remaining programs, and inspectors are to collect samples of food that is more likely to be contaminated by salmonella during on-site inspections, he said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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