Health and Science

Taiwanese woman causes international media frenzy due to young looks

Lure Hsu is the sister of Taiwanese actress Sharon Hsu

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/06/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese interior designer has suddenly become mentioned by media all over

Lure Hsu (from her Facebook page).

Europe because she looks like a student or even a teenager, even though she is 42.

Over the past week, reports about Lure Hsu (許路兒) emerged in various European media, from The Daily Mail in Great Britain to newspapers in Belgium and the Netherlands.

A frequent poster on Instagram and Facebook, Hsu’s fame was launched by her 35-year-old sister, actress Sharon Hsu (許維恩), who put a photo online for her 40th birthday which was interpreted as the photo of a teenager.

Since then, the elder Hsu has cultivated a following of 230,000 fans on Instagram and 340,000 on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.    [FULL  STORY]

Expired pork and chickens of more than 2 years found on market

Li-Chin Agricultural Products fined NT$6 million for selling expired pork and chicken

Taiwan News
dATE: 2017/05/06
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Another food safety issue has come under the limelight in

A box of pork that expired since 2014 posted by the whistleblower on Baoliao Commune. (Photo courtesy of Facebook user Baoliao Commune)

Taiwan this week that might affect meat lovers’ appetite a bit, a Taichung-based meat supplier Li-Chin Agricultural Products Limited (力勤農產有限公司) was caught selling expired pork and chicken of up to four years on the market.

More than 15,600 kilograms of expired meat products were sealed and banned from being sold on the market by the health authorities.

Upon inspection the Health Bureau of Taichung City found 1,674 boxes of frozen pig intestines without any expiration date labels, 333 boxes with the labels ripped off. With each box of pork weighing 6 kilograms to 6.8 kilograms, expired pork products amounted to 12,308 kilograms.

In addition, 220 boxes of expired frozen chicken totaling 3,300 kilograms were found. The company claimed it had removed the expiration date labels before destroying the products.    [FULL  STORY]

Father of Indonesian obese boy thanks Taiwan for offer to treat son

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/25
By: Jay Chou and Lilian Wu

Jakarta, April 25 (CNA) The father of an obese boy has expressed his thanks to

(Photo courtesy of Ade Somantri)

Taiwan for extending a helping hand to his son.

After it was reported in the news that the boy’s parents worried their son could die from obesity, Taiwan’s China Medical University Hospital and the Jakarta Taiwan Entrepreneur Association contacted the boy’s family to offer to treat his obesity and cover the medical expenses.

The boy’s father, Ade Somantri, in an interview with CNA Tuesday, expressed appreciation for the kindness of the Taiwanese hospital and the association.

He noted that his son, Arya Permana, 11, received a sleeve gastrectomy at Omni Hospitals in Bandung, three weeks ago, and is currently recuperating.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s FDA probes six new farms for dioxin-tainted eggs

Food and Drug Administration in Taiwan investigates six other farms for potential dioxin laced eggs

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/23
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating

A member of New Taipei City Government Department of Health checks progress of dioxin eggs being taken off vendor shelves.(By Central News Agency)

six more farms for eggs contaminated with the carcinogen dioxin, bringing the total number of egg farms affected to nine in the nation.

As of Saturday afternoon, 6,242 kilograms or nearly 13,500 eggs suspected of being contaminated with the toxin from 621 businesses in the local egg industry were scrapped by the FDA as a preventive measure.

Initial probes by FDA found the toxic laced eggs were from Chunghua County egg farms Junyi (駿億), Hongzhang (鴻彰) and Caiyuan (財源) that all sold their eggs to the largest egg distributor in the county Wangong (王功蛋行).    [FULL  STORY]

Don’t drink raw milk, health authorities warn

The China Post
Date: April 22, 2017
By: The China Post news staff with CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Dairy cattle in Chiayi were confirmed this week to have been infected

Photo courtesy of Max Pixel

with bovine tuberculosis. Disease control authorities said Friday that there was a risk of cow-to-human transmission if a consumer drinks unsterilized milk, but that there was no cause for concern because all milk on the market must be sterilized.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that the milk of cows infected by bovine tuberculosis do carry bacteria that can infect humans.

But all fresh milk products on the market are high-temperature sterilized, which kills the bacteria, Lo said.    [FULL  STORY]

Eager to promote referrals, NHIA adjusting cost of health care

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/14
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) Co-payments for outpatient and emergency care will be adjusted

NHIA chief Lee Po-chang

starting on Saturday in the government’s latest initiative to bolster the country’s medical referral system and use health care resources more efficiently.

For outpatient care, co-payments will be reduced for visits to medical centers and regional hospitals by NT$40 to NT$170 and NT$100, respectively, if the patient has a referral from a small hospital or clinic.

But individuals who seek care at a medical center — the highest accredited type of medical institution in the country — without a referral, will see their co-payments go up NT$60 to NT$420.    [FULL  STORY]

Cluster diarrhea infection at Kaohsiung campuses, 150 students sick

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/19
By: Cheng Chi-fong and Elizabeth Hsu

Kaohsiung, March 19 (CNA) There have been 14 cases of diarrhea in a cluster infection reported from school campuses in Kaohsiung since mid-February, when schools opened after the winter break, the municipality’s Department of Health said Sunday.

In the cluster outbreaks, some 150 students have become sick, mostly elementary school and kindergarten children, the department said.

After an investigation into the infections, norovirus was found to be the main culprit, the department added.

Norovirus, a highly contagious disease for which there is no treatment, is transmitted mostly through the fecal-oral route. The virus can be spread rapidly among students if some of them have poor hygiene habits, the city department said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan FDA finds industrial lime in winter melon tea

Tea chain took down tainted products last November

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A company in Kaohsiung was adding industrial lime to winter

Winter melon bricks seized by the FDA.(By Central News Agency)

melon “bricks” destined to be turned into tea and sold at prominent chain stores, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The health authorities in Kaohsiung received a tipoff last November that a company was putting lime for industrial usage into wax gourd or winter melon bricks. At the factory, inspectors sealed more than 10,500 kilograms of winter melon sugar bricks, 145 kg of other winter melon products, and 300 kg of lime.

The lime did not contain a legal level of calcium oxide, but nevertheless the amount present would not harm consumers’ health, officials said.

Drink chains had to take 2,490 kg of winter melon bricks out of business, with the Boba Tea chain accounting for a share of more than 2,000 kg. The company said it had removed the products within a day after being told by the authorities and had found a new supplier.    [FULL  STORY]

Fake drugs have Chinese ingredients

INVESTIGATION:Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said authorities are trying to identify those involved in the production and distribution of the counterfeits

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 10, 2017
By: Wu Liang-yi, Lee Hsin-fang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Counterfeit batches of Crestor brand lipid-lowering drugs contained ingredients from

Two pharmacists, left and center, and an employee of Zuellig Pharma Taiwan yesterday display a new batch of lipid-lowering drug Crestor with the word “exchange” printed on the packages and certification proving them to be real at a pharmacy in Taipei, after two batches of the drug were found to have been counterfeit last week. Photo: CNA

Chinese pharmaceutical producers, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday after being subjected to a barrage of questions from a lawmaker.

A recall was issued on Tuesday for all of AstraZeneca’s Crestor tablets following a discovery last week that two batches of the drug prescribed to 570,000 National Health Insurance patients were counterfeits made from atorvastatin, a cheaper drug whose patent had expired.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare did not release any information regarding the quantity, distribution or origin of the fake drugs until yesterday, when Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) grilled Chen on the issue during a legislative session.

Following Liu’s questions, Chen said that the fake drugs’ ingredients were mailed from China to Taiwan, but the identity of many individuals involved in their production and distribution remained unknown to authorities.    [FULL  STORY]

Ban on slaughter and transport of poultry lifted

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-24

The Council of Agriculture has lifted a weeklong nationwide ban on the slaughter and

COA has lifted a weeklong nationwide ban on the slaughter and transport of poultry. (CNA photo)

transport of poultry.

The ban on transport was lifted at midnight and the ban on slaughter at noon on Friday. The ban was in place for a week to prevent an outbreak of bird flu from spreading further. On February 6, a highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu virus which carries a risk of human transmission was found in a bird.

Quarantine official Shih Tai-hua said Friday that vets are ready to make sure that all poultry is healthy.    [FULL  STORY]