Restaurant faces investigation after death

The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning.

A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said.

No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Later yesterday, however, it said the number of customers reporting illness had risen to five and it had ordered the restaurant to close until further notice.

On Friday last week, two New Taipei City residents had lunch together at the establishment before falling ill later that day, with one person showing symptoms at 8pm and the other at 8:10pm, the department said.

The following day, one of the people sought medical treatment at the Sanchong branch of New Taipei City Hospital and was transferred to Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, where they died of kidney failure, it said.

The other person had slight food poisoning and their life was not in danger, it said.

The department opened a probe into the establishment after receiving a report on the incident from New Taipei City’s health authorities, it said.

The restaurant was warned that a second inspection is scheduled for today and failing it would result in a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$200 million (US$1,881 to US$6.27 million) under Article 44 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), the department said.

Samples collected from swabs of restaurant employees, kitchen utensils and the fecal matter of the two affected customers were being analyzed as part of the investigation, it said.