An investigation into 29 university campus restaurants in Taiwan found 21 to be in violation of food safety regulations, with breaches ranging from bacterial contamination to expired food products, according to the Executive Yuan’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP).
The probe, which took place in April and May, inspected 29 restaurants on university campuses in Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Changhua and Yilan, on a total of 24 points of compliance, DCP official Wang Chih-hung (???) said at a news conference Wednesday.
While eight of the 29 restaurants met all food safety requirements, only one — Zhi-De Vegetarian in National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) in Taipei – was also in full compliance with environmental and fire safety rules.
In terms of food safety, the most common violation – found at 10 of the restaurants – was failing to arrange annual health checks for employees, thus risking the spread of infectious lung or liver diseases, Wang said.
Another eight restaurants had unsanitary conditions such as greasy floors or standing water, while six had improperly covered food products, four had cockroaches on site, and three had foods frozen at above -18 degrees Celsius, Wang said.
Of the two restaurants cited for expired ingredients, the most serious violation was at Ba-Yang Snacks (????) on the NTNU campus, where inspectors found six outdated products, including pickled vegetables that expired in 2018, according to department member Wang Te-ming (???).
The Ministry of Health and Welfare is investigating the findings at the restaurant but has yet to issue a fine.
Meanwhile, the department said, beverages at seven of 20 restaurants inspected were found to have enterobacteriaceae levels higher than the legal limit of 10CFU (colony-forming units) per milliliter.
Of those, both Hsin Chi Yeh Barbeque Rice (??????) near Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei and Ji Pin Hong Kong-style lunchbox store (???????) had contamination levels over 1,000 times the legal limit, according to the department.
In a rare bright spot in the investigation, all 22 restaurants inspected for frying oil quality passed muster, the department said.
By contrast, Beloved Xiaolongbao (???????) near Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan had the most overall violations, including eight in the area of food safety and seven related to its use of gas cylinders, according to the DCP.
In addition to food safety, the inspections also resulted in three restaurants being fined a combined NT$215,000 (US$7,244) for public safety violations related to improper use of liquefied gas cylinders and one restaurant being fined for breaching recycling laws, the department said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel