Recently, Japan's Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. had a fatal incident caused by health care products. Preliminary investigation revealed that the cause of the incident was the contamination of a toxic substance, penicillic acid, into the product. According to a report by the Asahi Shimbun on April 4, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical had the highest content of penicillic acid in the batch produced in September last year. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and other departments are investigating the cause of the contamination of penicillic acid.
Five people have been killed and 196 have been hospitalized
According to CCTV News, 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 care products containing red yeast rice ingredients have died, and the number of hospitalizations has increased to 196.
In addition, Japan's Minister in charge of Consumer Affairs, Eiko Tsumimi, said at a press conference 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.
Japanese media: Kobayashi Pharmaceutical more than two months ago
There are known problems with red yeast rice supplements
According to Xinhua News Agency, 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 ingredients 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.
Previously reported: Immediately deactivated! Urgently recalled by well-known pharmaceutical companies! Available on domestic e-commerce platforms
Source: Xinhua News Agency, CCTV News, CCTV Finance, Southern News Network
Editor-in-charge: Li Jiani
Editor: Anne Xu