Two restaurants that are part of the same corporation in Taipei were reported for suspected food poisoning from Friday last week, and were ordered to suspend operations after an inspection found several hygiene flaws, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.
The two restaurants are Wowprime Corp’s (王品集團) Korean cuisine restaurant Truewow (初瓦) and hotpot restaurant Xiang La Spicy Hotpot’s (嚮辣和牛麻辣鍋) Taipei MRT Ximen Branch, which are next to each other.
Taipei Department of Health food and drug division head Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said the department received the first reports of suspected food poisoning at the two restaurants on Friday.
Photo: Yang Ya-ming, Taipei Times
As of 12pm yesterday, 13 people who ate at Truewow and nine people who ate at Xiang La sought medical treatment for vomiting, diarrhea and suspected food poisoning symptoms, she said, adding that the health department sent inspectors to inspect the restaurants on Saturday.
At Truewow, inspectors found its kitchen waste area, ventilator, frying machine, grill oven and sink to be dirty; personal items were placed in the kitchen, food ingredients were repackaged in undated bags, food ingredients in the refrigerator were undated and scraps of food were on the floor, Lin said.
At Xiang La, they found personal items in the kitchen, food ingredients repackaged in undated containers, partial ingredients without source documents and dirty kitchen countertops, she said.
“The two restaurants have been ordered to improve their hygiene problems by Monday,” Lin said.
“A re-inspection will be conducted after the date, and if they still fail the re-inspection, they might face a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million [US$1,872 and US$6.24 million], according to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法),” she added.
Meanwhile, Lin said that as more than six people have been reported as having suspected food poisoning from eating at one of the two restaurants, exceeding the criteria for suspending operations, the health department on Saturday evening ordered them to suspend their operations pending an investigation, and submit improvement plans.
They would be allowed to resume business after they pass the hygiene re-inspection and the department approves their improvement plans, she said.
The health department said it and the hospitals have also collected anal swabs from people and hand swabs from the restaurants’ food-handlers, as well as swabs from surface areas and drinking water samples from the restaurant for further testing to clarify whether they are indeed food poisoning cases.
The two restaurants originally on Saturday evening posted on their Facebook accounts that they would suspend business between Saturday and Monday due to “the building’s insufficient water supply,” but many people commented that the real reason was due to suspected food poisoning.
The two restaurants at noon yesterday said that they are undertaking an overall cleanup and disinfection, adding that they have asked that the building’s water tanks be washed, and that they would conform to the health department’s suggestions and improve the cooking and food preparation areas.
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