Compiled by TEH ATHIRA YUSOF, ALLISON LAI and R. ARAVINTHAN
STARCHY food, corn and coconut products as well as soaked black and snow fungi have a high-risk of being contaminated with the life-threatening bongkrekic acid, major Chinese dailies reported.
Experts have cautioned consumers against consuming foodstuff, including meehoon and kuey teow, stored in inappropriate environments for extended periods.
Taiwanese dietitian Chen Han-yu said food poisoning caused by bongkrekic acid, produced by a bacteria, has a high death rate.
“Just 1mg to 1.5mg is enough to kill a person and there is no antidote for it,” she warned, after a recent food poisoning outbreak involving over 20 people at Polam Kopitiam, a Malaysian eatery in Taiwan.
Most of the victims had consumed fried kuey teow or wat tan hor (kuey teow with egg gravy).Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control found bongkrekic acid in eight of the patients, including two who died and five receiving intensive care treatment.
Efforts are underway to trace the toxin, with the focus on the pastes and sauces commonly used in Malaysian dishes after the authorities found no traces of it in the raw ingredients.
Food contaminated with bongkrekic acid will appear normal as the toxin is odourless, colourless and tasteless.
> The phrase “it’s a small world” best describes the case of Xiao Kai (not his real name) and his long lost biological father.
Chinese dailies reported that the 36-year-old businessman from Shangdong province, who had spent 20 years searching for his family, discovered that his father, identified as Miao, was a WeChat friend.
“I am a volunteer of a group helping people reunite with missing family members.
“We added each other as friends several months ago to talk about how he would be retaking blood samples for the missing persons’ data bank,” said Xiao Kai.
On March 14, Xiao Kai was informed that his DNA and particulars matched a man in Shanxi province – the person turned out to be none other than Miao.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
