Japan's Kobayashi pharmaceutical health products, has caused 4 deaths, the company urgently recalled 3 products, China is its second largest consumer market, customer service: Chinese consumers can go to the hospital for blood testing, the company reimburses the cost!
On March 22, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, which occupies a large consumer market in China, issued a statement.
Since January, some consumers have reported that after using the health care drugs containing red yeast rice sold by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the kidneys of the body began to develop painful symptoms, and all related products containing red yeast rice ingredients were recalled by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical.
On March 29, the incident fermented again, and from the latest announcement released by Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, it can be seen that until now, five consumers have died from taking health care drugs sold by their company that contain red yeast rice.
In order to investigate the truth of the matter as soon as possible and give an explanation to the public, Japan's Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare asked Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to submit a list of wholesalers who have purchased red yeast rice raw materials in its company.
and require companies on the list to check whether their products are health hazards from beginning to end and submit relevant test reports.
Since January 2024, Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company has been receiving continuous consumer responses.
After using the company's health care drugs containing red yeast rice, he became unwell and was hospitalized for treatment of six patients, some of whom were seriously ill and needed dialysis treatment.
Two months later, on March 22, Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announced on the company's official website that after consumers reacted to the discomfort caused by taking drugs, the company would test and analyze the ingredients of health care products containing red yeast rice one by one.
It was found that some of the red yeast rice ingredients contained an unknown ingredient that was not within the company's control.
In order to prevent the situation from further escalating, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announced a recall of three health care drugs containing red yeast rice, and asked consumers who had purchased such drugs and were currently taking them to stop taking them as soon as possible.
After Kobayashi Pharmaceutical issued a relevant recall statement, Japanese companies that had purchased red yeast rice raw materials from it also recalled related products one after another.
It is understood that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical produces nearly 18.5 tons of red yeast rice raw materials every year, and 52 Japanese and foreign companies have purchased red yeast rice raw materials from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, accounting for 80 percent of the total, and only 20 percent of the red yeast rice raw materials are used by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical itself.
Since 2015, overseas daigou has become popular, and although Kobayashi Pharmaceutical is not directly listed on the mainland, it has still become the "favorite" of many Chinese consumers.
Through purchasing alone, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's annual sales in China have reached 4.3 billion yen (about 200 million yuan).
With the prosperity of cross-border e-commerce, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's products are even more widely known, and many life consumables have become popular "Internet celebrities" among Chinese consumers.
China has become Kobayashi's second largest overseas consumer market, but the three products that have problems this time: red yeast cholesterol granules, nattokinase granules, and cholesterol-lowering health auxiliary granules are not marketed in Chinese mainland.
After the incident, on March 24, a notice titled "Notice on Stopping the Use of Red Yeast Cholesterol Granules and Self-Recall" was published by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical China on the mainland's online public platform.
After the reporter called Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the official response was that consumers could return the product through the official purchase channel.
On March 29, according to a Japanese reporter, as of the 28th, there have been 5 consumers who have died due to taking health care drugs containing red yeast rice ingredients produced by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, and Kobayashi Pharmaceutical is conducting a follow-up investigation on the correlation between the death of consumers caused by drugs.
What is Red Yeast Rice?
In China, red yeast rice has been used for more than 1,000 years and is the only natural food coloring that can be obtained through microbial fermentation.
At present, it is mainly used as a food coloring. When it is colored on food, it can make the food bright and ruddy, and it is stable and not easy to fade.
Red yeast rice is contained in a moderate amount in beverages, biscuits, candies, instant noodles, potato chips, yogurt, mustard, fermented bean curd, jam and other foods that people consume daily.
An active substance called Monacolin K (monacolin) was extracted from Monascus monascus by the Japanese in 1979, and its main effect is to inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol. The cholesterol-lowering drug, lovastatin, was developed on this basis.
In the next few years, scientists in this field have extracted a variety of active ingredients such as ergosterol and γ-aminobutyric acid, which can be converted into vitamin D in the human body.
Through continuous extraction and research on red yeast rice, scientists have confirmed that red yeast rice contains substances with certain anti-cancer, blood pressure, blood lipid and blood sugar lowering functions.
However, everything has two sides, although red yeast rice can extract ingredients that are beneficial to the human body, but if an accident occurs accidentally during fermentation of monascus mold, the harmful substance - citrinin produced will cause carcinogenicity and teratogenicity to the human body, and the kidneys will be harmed.
Businesses have been slow to make mistakes
Whether in the field of daily necessities or pharmaceutical manufacturing, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has sold a variety of explosive products in the domestic and foreign markets.
However, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical did not take emergency measures at the first time of the incident, and in this regard, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical also admitted at a press conference held on March 22 that the company was at fault for slow decision-making.
The person in charge, Kobayashi Zhanghao, explained on the day of the press conference that the company made preparations for a "recall" after receiving the first test report on February 6.
However, it was not until mid-March that the company re-tested its drugs and found that there were unknown ingredients in the production data of red yeast rice raw materials, and he made a decision to recall products containing red yeast rice, for which he apologized to consumers.
