Victims of suspected food poisoning in Taichung discharged from hospital

Taichung, Jan. 26 (CNA) Fourteen people who were admitted to hospitals in Taichung after getting sick from suspected food poisoning from a meal at The Lin Hotel on Friday were all discharged from hospital Saturday, the Taichung City government said Sunday.

The patients showed common symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, including nausea and vomiting, said Lin Tzu-chieh (林子傑), head of the Taichung Veterans General Hospital's Emergency Medicine Department, where 13 of the individuals were treated, on Saturday.

Another individual who fell sick was treated at China Medical University Hospital, the city government said on Saturday.

The city also said Sunday that it had ordered the hotel to make improvements by Tuesday after it found operational flaws during an inspection of the restaurant, according to a statement issued by the city's Office of Food and Drug Safety.

But it did not make any statement on whether the illnesses of the hotel's guests were related to those operational flaws.

The office said it conducted an inspection of the restaurant on Saturday and took eight samples for testing, including two ingredients and six environmental items, but the results were not yet available as of Sunday.

It also ordered the restaurant to suspend operations in its kitchen, and said it could only resume operations after passing a subsequent re-inspection by the food safety office, the statement said.

Among the issues found by inspectors were accumulations of dirt on the ceiling and in air vents in the kitchen and restaurant seating area, and food containers being placed on the ground.

The office said it had conducted 12 inspections of the hotel's restaurant and kitchen over the past year, and all of them found the hotel to be in compliance with regulations.

In addition, the 11 food items tested met the standards for disease control and environmental hygiene, the statement said.