The health ministry and local authorities on Saturday inspected a Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. factory in Osaka following reports of deaths and hospitalizations possibly linked to its red yeast rice dietary supplements. The factory in western Japan, which was making the ingredients of the supplements, shut down in December. But the ministry and the local government decided to carry out an on-site inspection in light of the widening health problems regarding the Osaka-based company’s products containing “beni-koji” red yeast rice. The search of the Osaka factory took about four and a half hours…