No bacterium found in key areas linked to chef in food poisoning outbreak: ministry
No bacterium known for producing a toxin responsible for a deadly food poisoning outbreak at a Taipei restaurant has been found in key locations visited by its chef, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Sunday.
Environmental samples collected by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on April 4 tested negative for Burkholderia gladioli, concluding related inspection work, Wang said.
A subspecies of the bacterium, Burkholderia gladioli pathovar cocovenenans, can create bongkrek acid, a deadly toxin, when it contaminates some fermented food products.
None of the samples, 12 taken from the chef’s residence and 15 from a close colleague’s home, revealed the presence of the bacterium, he said.
Bongkrek acid was responsible for the fatal food poisoning outbreak at Polam Kopitiam’s (寶林茶室) branch in Taipei’s Xinyi
District (信義) last month.
Early investigations showed that traces of bongkrek acid were found in samples from the chef’s hands and feces, which Wang said could have been indirectly consumed by the chef and metabolized in his body.
The latest findings brought related environmental inspections to an end, following an analysis of another 152 samples collected from the restaurant, its food suppliers and other locations — all of which tested negative for the bacterium, he said.
The result “was expected,” as the bacterium is less common in the environment, and the sampled locations had undergone a certain level of cleaning before sampling took place, Wang said.
Despite the findings, “it is very clear that this was a case of bongkrek acid poisoning that occurred within a specific time and space,” he said, adding that the evidence would be forwarded to prosecutors for further investigation.
As of Sunday, out of the 34 people who ate at the Xinyi restaurant from March 18 to 24 and reported falling ill, two have died and seven remain hospitalized, with four of them in critical condition.
The remaining 25 are recuperating at home, the ministry said.