Meals at breakfast stores contain medicine residue

By Sean Lin / Staff reporter





Amid a snowballing food scare involving beverage chains, an inspection by the Consumer Protection Committee yesterday found that seven breakfast stores, including branches of four breakfast store chains, have used foods containing residues from veterinary medicines.

A report published by the committee indicated that seven of 53 samples it took contained antiprotozoal agents used on animals. Six of the samples were eggs while the other was hamburger meat, the report showed.

Chemicals found included nicarbarzin, trimethoprim, semicarbazide, maduramicin, ormetopim and lacilocid, none of which is supposed to be in the foods, the committee said.

Inspectors from the Changhua County Public Health Bureau yesterday conduct a surprise inspection at a tea shop in Changhua County. Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times

The inspection found that one branch of well-known breakfast store chain JSP (呷尚寶) served eggs containing 0.06 parts per million (ppm) of ormetoprim, 0.04ppm of nicarbarzin and 0.01ppm of maduramicin.

Furthermore, a branch of Laya (拉亞漢堡), which has more than 600 stores nationwide, was found to have used pork containing semicarbazide concentrations of 2 parts per billion.

Both stores are located in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和).

New Taipei Public Health Department said the eggs in question came from two chicken farms, Chuanyi and Hoyuan, in Taichung and Kaohsiung respectively, adding that it has ordered that the problematic products be pulled from the stores’ menus.

A statement issued by JSP said that it has ordered its stores to dispose of the problematic meat and stop serving pork hamburgers, while Laya headquarters said that it had only demanded that the Jhonghe branch dispose of the eggs, as Laya’s branches source their eggs individually.

Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital department of clinical toxicology director Yen Tsung-hai (顏宗海) said consuming traces of micro nicarbarzin, ormetopim and maduramicin can damage the liver and kidneys over time, while trimethoprim causes toxin buildup in kidneys and bone marrow.

Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said that while none of the antibiotics detected are illegal, using the drugs on layer hens is, adding that the bureau would ascertain the origins of the rest of the eggs in question soon.

In related news, the Taipei City Department of Health yesterday said that two tea drinks from popular beverage chain CoCo (都可) were brewed from the same leaves used by 50 Lan, which on Wednesday tested positive for fipronil.

The chain ordered all of its stores to stop serving the drinks, while the New Taipei City Government said that analysis results on the drinks are expected next week.