212 people have been hospitalised in Japan due to health damage related to the intake of Kobayashi pharmaceutical dietary supplement containing red yeast rice, or beni- koji.
Local media reported on Monday.
The figure was updated as of Sunday; with those who have since been discharged included, national news agency Kyodo reported citing the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The ministry, based on the report from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, the manufacturer of the beni-koji ingredient said that a total of 1,224 had sought for medical attention as of Sunday.
That about 53,000 inquiries had been directed to the company, During interviews at Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s headquarters in Osaka on Saturday, discussions were held regarding the two-month gap the drug maker took from identifying health damages to making them public, the health ministry added.
In an earlier interview with Xinhua, Hidetoshi Tashiro, chief economist at Japan’s Sigma Capital Ltd., said that Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s food safety crisis also revealed organisational problems within the company.
An unintended component called puberulic acid, derived from blue mold, had been detected in the company’s product manufactured at Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s Osaka factory.
This was shut down in December 2023, according to the health ministry and the company.
According to the ministry, the substance is a potent antibacterial and ant malarial agent that can be toxic, but the extent to which its ingestion may pose health risks or cause kidney damage remains unclear.(Xinhua/NAN)
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