On April 5, local time, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that according to the report of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company, as of April 4, 5 consumers who took Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's health products containing red yeast rice ingredients have died, and the number of hospitalizations has increased to 196.
△ Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company
In addition, Japan's Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs, Eiko Tsumi, said on the same day that she had received a re-evaluation report from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. on the food safety of health products containing red yeast rice as a functional label. Eiko said that the health effects of red yeast rice ingredients have not been confirmed, and the cause of the incident is still under investigation, and it cannot be determined that the product is safe to take.
△ Kobayashi Pharmaceutical: A problem health care product containing red yeast rice
According to a report by NHK on the same day, more than 10 percent of the red yeast rice raw materials produced by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical last year contained unknown ingredients beyond the company's grasp.
According to the data released by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. on the 5th, 88 batches of red yeast rice raw materials were produced last year, totaling 18.5 tons. Of these, 34 batches are used by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and other companies to produce health foods, and 54 batches are used by other companies as food coloring and flavoring. Of the 34 batches used by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and other companies to produce health foods, 10 batches have been confirmed to contain plutonic acid. Of the 10 batches, 4 batches were used by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in the production of the company's products, and 6 batches were used in the production of other companies. Of the 54 batches used by other companies as food coloring and flavoring, the presence of Penicillium chonicamine has not been confirmed.
Although the cause of the health hazard has not yet been identified, the voices of manufacturers who purchased products from Kobayashi are still growing asking Kobayashi to respond and control the impact. Some manufacturers who use Kobayashi's red yeast yeast materials for food processing and production said that although the cause has not yet been ascertained, they have requested the recall of products related to the use of red yeast rice raw materials, but Kobayashi has not mentioned the recycling method, deadline and cost of these products.
In addition, according to a report by NHK on the 5th, at the request of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 173 companies that have confirmed the use of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company's red yeast rice raw materials have conducted independent investigations on whether the products produced by their respective companies have caused damage to consumers' health. According to relevant sources, as of the 5th, which is the reporting deadline for the results of self-examination stipulated by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, no company has reported the existence of products that cause damage to consumers' health.
Japanese media: Kobayashi Pharmaceutical more than two months ago
There are known problems with red yeast rice supplements
A number of Japanese media reported on the 4th that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company had received a report of damage to consumers' health caused by health products containing red yeast rice in January this year, but it was only more than two months later that the company's external directors were informed and the recall decision was announced. The outside world questioned that there were problems with the company's management, which led to the failure of the "problematic health products" to be recalled earlier.
On March 29, Akihiro Kobayashi (second from left), President of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and relevant officials bowed at a press conference in Osaka, Japan. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" and other media reported that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical received the first report of health damage caused by health products containing red yeast rice ingredients on January 15, and then successively learned that a number of consumers who took the health care products were hospitalized with kidney diseases. On February 6, the relevant departments of the company reported the matter to President Akihiro Kobayashi, and since then, the relevant situation has been reported almost every week.
According to Japanese media, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's board of directors has seven members, and four outside directors were not first informed of the "problematic health product" until March 22, when the company made a recall decision. This means that for more than two months after the incident, the outside directors have not had the opportunity to participate in the decision-making of the matter.
This is the headquarters of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. photographed in Osaka, Japan, on March 29. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
Some experts pointed out that this incident is related to the health and even life of consumers, and under normal circumstances, the board of directors should be convened to report it to the outside directors immediately. However, there were problems with the management of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, which caused the report to be delayed. If the outside directors had been informed in a timely manner, the circumstances of the incident might have been disclosed to the public earlier.
Jiangsu News Channel
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