Nearly 80% of sashimi at fishing harbor restaurants fails inspection: bacteria over limits, insufficient freshness

Major inspection of restaurants around five major tourist fishing harbors, nearly 80% of restaurants' "sashimi" fails! Not only do total bacterial counts and E. coli exceed limits, freshness also fails to meet standards!

In October 2020, the Consumer Protection Committee of the Executive Yuan, together with branch offices of the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and local competent authorities, conducted inspections of environmental hygiene and fire safety at a total of 25 restaurants around five major tourist fishing harbors, and sampled sashimi from 18 of these restaurants, with 14 failing. Among them, the total bacterial count at Kaohsiung Cihou Live Seafood Restaurant exceeded the limit by 6.8 times, and both E. coli and volatile basic nitrogen at Taichung A-Dong's Seafood Restaurant exceeded the limits!

In addition to sashimi, the Consumer Protection Committee also inspected restaurant sanitation environments and fire safety. Keelung Xinhuan Port Seafood Restaurant and Yilan Whale and Dolphin Seafood Restaurant all failed the "sanitation inspection," "sashimi testing," and "fire safety" checks. Consumer protection official Wang Te-ming stated that these restaurants are all landmark local restaurants, yet they failed to meet even the most basic standards, making it truly difficult to safeguard consumers' food safety and dining safety. Local government competent authorities have been asked to investigate and handle the matter in accordance with the law and to guide the operators in making improvements.