Death toll in severe food poisoning outbreak at Malaysian restaurant in Taipei rises to 4

Another person has died of suspected food poisoning on April 29 after reportedly dining at a Malaysian vegetarian restaurant in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, local media reported.

This brings the number of fatalities involved in the Polam Kopitiam food poisoning outbreak to four, Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang confirmed on April 29.

According to Focus Taiwan, the death of a 40-year-old woman on April 29 was the second such death in three days. Another person had died of multiple organ failure on April 27. 

After eating char kway teow at the eatery in mid-March, the woman experienced nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea upon reaching home.

Wang said the woman had been in the intensive care unit for more than a month as she faced organ failure and infections. She died of multiple organ failure at 3am on April 29.

China Press reported that 35 people have reported falling ill after dining at the eatery so far, including the four who died.

Two of them — one still undergoing liver transplant surgery and another in the hospital — are in severe condition, Wang added.

In March, two men had died from suspected food poisoning after dining at the eatery.

A lethal toxin suspected to be behind the fatal food poisoning outbreak was found in the stool of the restaurant's chef.

The toxin, bongkrekic acid, was detected in faecal samples collected from the Xinyi outlet's chef on March 27, said Wang in a Facebook post on April 6.

Earlier samples taken from his hands on March 24 also tested positive for the deadly toxin, which — even in a minute dose of 1mg — can kill a human being.

The same toxin was found in most of the sick diners, local media reported.

All Polam Kopitiam outlets were ordered to close during the ongoing investigations, though Wang reiterated that the outbreak was confined to the Xinyi branch.

Although the restaurant passed a food safety inspection in 2022, Taipei health inspectors who visited the eatery after the outbreak found cockroach droppings on the premises, knives stored on the counter next to the sink, and a failure to provide employee health records, local media reported.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.