The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Wakayama Prefecture announced on the 31st that a factory in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture, based on the Food Sanitation Act, has confirmed that people who ingested health foods containing Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's red yeast rice have developed kidney disease. We conducted an on-site inspection.
The on-site inspection was conducted at a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical subsidiary factory in Kinokawa City, Wakayama Prefecture.
This factory manufactures red yeast rice raw materials, taking over the production equipment from a factory in Osaka that was closed in December last year due to aging.At around 9:30 a.m., officials from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Wakayama Prefecture , a total of 17 people entered.
The company said that a substance believed to be ``pouberuric acid,'' which can be generated from blue mold, was found in the red yeast rice raw material produced from April to October last year at a factory in Osaka. The company confirmed the equipment and manufacturing processes that were relocated from the factory.
The on-site inspection ended around 2:30 p.m., and Kenji Yamashita, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's Manufacturing Headquarters General Manager, who responded to an interview at the site, said, ``As I am in the position of undergoing the inspection, I would like to refrain from commenting on the details.We will continue to respond honestly to the government's investigation.'' I want to do that," he said.
As of the 29th, five people have died and a total of 114 people have been hospitalized due to kidney disease after ingesting health foods containing Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's red yeast rice. The company is aware of the incident and is conducting an investigation as it is suspected that it may have been the cause of the incident.