Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) yesterday said that all 35 types of food ingredients collected at a restaurant in Taipei, where a deadly bongkrek acid poisoning outbreak occurred last week, tested negative for the toxin, so how the toxin was produced is still unknown and under investigation.
Bongkrek acid is a deadly toxin produced by the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans, particularly in fermented coconut or corn products.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as of 5:30pm yesterday said that the number of people who reported feeling ill after eating at Polam Kopitiam’s (寶林茶室) branches in Taipei, between March 19 and March 24, remained at 31.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
However, as two people who ate at another branch in Raohe Night Market (饒河夜市) tested negative for bongkrek acid, and an analysis showed that they are not linked to the food poisoning outbreak at the restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13, they would be excluded from the list, the CDC said.
Of the remaining 29 cases, two people have died, five are hospitalized in intensive care units, three in general wards and 21 had returned home, it said, adding that so far a total of 14 people tested positive for bongkrek acid in their blood samples.
Reporting at the Legislative Yuan, Hsueh yesterday said all 35 types of food ingredients collected at the restaurant in Xinyi A13 tested negative for bongkrek acid, but the food samples were collected on March 26, so it could be that the batch of contaminated ingredients was used up and not tested.
As most of the patients ate char kway teow (炒粿條) — a stir-fried flat rice noodle dish — at the restaurant in Xinyi A13, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) has repeatedly said that he believes the batch of flat rice noodles used in those few days most likely caused the food poisoning outbreak, but his statement was questioned by some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators.
Asked for comment, Hsueh said that “from the evidence gathered so far, we can scientifically say that flat rice noodles are the most likely souce, but whether the toxin was produced during the process of flat rice noodle preservation, seasoning or cooking is still being investigated.”
Separately, Wang yesterday said in a radio interview that there are three main conditions for bongkrek acid production: the existence of B. cocovenenans, which has not been recorded in Taiwan; second, the medium that the bacterium is cultured on, particularly starchy foods and coconut; and third, it is produced in warm environments between 22°C and 33°C with a neutral pH, and dependent on the food being fermented.
The three conditions all need to be met to produce bongkrek acid, so cases are very rare, he said, adding that while flat rice noodles should be made of rice, the supplier of the flat rice noodles used by the restaurant mixed corn starch and tapioca starch with rice powder to make the noodles.
Wang said the restaurant in Xinyi A13 has starch and a warm temperature environment, so the B. cocovenenans could have been brought in from other countries, as there are many international travelers, but it takes about two weeks for bacteria cultivation on the specimen collected in the restaurant environment to confirm whether B. cocovenenans was present.
In addition, the Taipei Department of Health said its inspection of 37 vendors at the food courts of two department stores — Breeze Nanjing (微風南京店) and Sogo Department Store’s Tianmu branch — on Sunday resulted in 17 vendors having environment hygiene flaws, including one with expired condiments, and several failing to update mandatory registration or provide necessary documents.
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