News Brief: Plasticizers rear their ugly heads

Ten food items out of 322 recently tested by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health (台北市政府衛生局) tested positive for excessive levels of plasticizers, TVBS reports today (full Chinese-language article here).

The items included drinks, probiotics (益生菌) and flavored pastes and sauces. Worst culprit was Chengtai (誠泰) brand mushroom sauce (香菇拌醬) from Xiluo (西螺) in Yunlin (雲林), which contained a diisononyl phthalate (DINP) level of 1944ppm, more than 200 times the permitted level of 9ppm.

The company responded that the DOH tests had been conducted on old stock with a form of packaging subsequently replaced, but which had not been completely removed from shop shelves. It agreed to allow the public to return purchases for a full refund.

Other products falling foul included a toon-flavored sauce (香椿醬) with DINP level of 1545.6 ppm and pineapple paste (鳳梨醬) at 16.9 ppm.

Translation © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: DOH investigation finds illegal New Year foodstuffs

With lunar new year about to arrive, Taipei City Dept of Health (台北市衛生局) Jan 16th released its final survey of new year foodstuffs which checked up on a total of 167 items, of which 11 failed to meet standards, The Broadcasting Corporation of China (中國廣播公司) reported yesterday. 

Worst offenders were processed nut products followed by wet rice products and processed bean products. One sample of preserved broad beans (蠶豆) sold at Guting market (古亭市場) had sulphur dioxide residues that were six times permitted levels, and general provisions stores in Datong and Neihu districts selling red beans (紅豆) and calligonum beans (豆棗) with seven times the permitted level of the preservative benzoic acid (苯甲酸). 

The article (full Chinese-language piece here) carries a full list of the vendors’ names and the companies supplying them with illegal produce see the

Unfortunately no information is available (yet?) on the TCG DOH English-language website (http://english.doh.taipei.gov.tw/MP_109002.html)

Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2012

News Brief: Wholemeal bread not always high fiber

Wholemeal bread does not necessarily equate with high fibre, the Consumers’ Foundation (消基會) announced yesterday, and often contained more fat, according to a front-page report in the Liberty Times (Chinese language article here)

With its claims to high fibre and low calories, wholemeal bread has become popular with Taiwan’s consumers, the foundation said. But a survey of bread retailers, grain stores and convenience stores in the greater Taipei area since July this year showed that this ingrained impression is not necessarily true, and sometimes oil added to increase bread’s flavour and fragrance mean they can be high fat rather than high fibre.

Fat levels of 20 samples ranged from 0.2 percent to 9 percent. Of these, the French handmade bread (法蘭西手工全麥大圓) sold by Carrefour had the lowest fat content, while the “wholemeal toast” (全麥吐司) sold by Yjysheng (一之軒) had high fat content. Eating 200g (2 or 3 slices) of this latter contained the equivalent of three teaspoons of oil, which the foundation claimed represented around half of the daily fat allowance as recommended by Taiwan’s Department of Health (衛生署).

With dietary fibre content of 3 percent to 7 percent, wholemeal bread can help reduce cholesterol, promote intestinal peristalis and reduce excessive appetite. The Foundation discovered that Mr. Mark Bakery Co.’s (馬可先生) rye and mixed grain bread (黑麥雜糧麵包) and Taiwan Yamazaki’s (台灣山崎) wholemeal toast (全麥吐司) had dietary fibre content between 6 percent and 7 percent, whereas the above-mentioned French handmade bread from Carrefour had dietary fibre only slightly higher than regular white bread, at around 3 percent to 4 percent.

The foundation said that 200g of mixed grain bread could provide up to 8-14 g of dietary fibre, representing up to half of the DOH recommended daily value of 20-30 g, compared to just 6-7g by eating 200g of white bread.






                                                              Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: School lunch suppliers, caterers substandard -- CPC

Many parents deliver hot lunches to the school gates

A random sample by the Consumer Protection Commission (消費者保護委員會) of 57 school lunch ingredient suppliers and caterers in six counties and cities around Taiwan found excessive levels of agrichemicals in ten cases, the National Education Radio (國立教育廣播電台) reported today (full Chinese-language article here). 

All fresh meat products were found to be up to standard, but four processed meat items had unacceptable levels of livestock agrochemicals. Similarly, six vegetable items tested positive for pesticide residues.

The CPC under the Executive Yuan asked the Ministry of Education to instruct schools to deal with the suppliers in accordance with their contracts, and asked the county- and city-level departments of health to investigate the sources of the meat products and deal with the manufacturers in accordance with the law.

No contraventions were found in Taitung County, whereas one to four below-standard ingredients were found in each of Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan. 

News Brief: Preservatives in rice products could seriously damage liver, kidneys

Spot checks by Taipei City’s Department of Health of stewed snacks (滷味; lu-wei), noodle dishes, sliced fruit and other food products  found excessive levels of E. coli, TVBS reported today (Chinese-language article here).

Whether the bacteria found in sliced fruit sold in the HiLife convenience store (萊爾富) Xindong branch (信東店), and stewed duck wings (滷鴨翅) sold in A.mart’s (愛買) Jingmei store (景美店) were due to production and packaging processes or to workers’ sanitary conditions requires further investigation, it said.

In addition, rice flour noodles (米粉 and 粄條 ban-tiao) bought in a traditional market in Sanshui Street (三水街) in Taipei’s Wanhua (萬華) District were found to have illegal addition of benzoic acid (苯甲酸) preservatives. Although they looked like any other similar product, on opening the packet, the noodles gave off was a strong chemical odour, and were found to contain 5.19g of benzoic acid preservative per kilogram, meaning that eating just one bowl of noodles would exceed the maximum daily allowance. 

Contravention of the “Act Governing Food Sanitation” (食品衛生管理法) is punishable by fines of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 (ca. US$1-5,000).

Similarly, illegal addition of dehydroacetic acid (DHA; 去水醋酸) preservative was found in two samples of ban-tiao and one sample of gui-a-tiao  noodles (粿仔條). 

Longterm ingestion of preservatives can lead to reduced appetite, growth retardation and even serious damage to liver and kidneys, the DOH said, reminding citizens to carefully inspect external appearance and odour when purchasing foods for immediate consumption.

                                     Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: Online sales of breast milk unsafe, illegal --DOH

Two Taipei City councilors held a press conference yesterday at which they announced the results of checks undertaken on mother’s milk bought online. Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) and Li Jian-chang (李建昌) said the four packets of milk sent to the Taipei City Hospital (臺北市立聯合醫院) had not complied with the hospital’s own standards, and they called on the city's Department of Health (衛生局) to ban such website trade and called on those dealing in breast milk to withdraw their products from sale, the Liberty Times reported (full Chinese-language article here)

Hsu said that the “health check” certificates posted on the internet auction sites with offers for 200cc bags of mother’s milk from as little as NT$40 to suggest the product is safe were, in fact, worthless. The equipment used, facilities and environment could all create conditions in which germs could breed, she said.

Hsu said she bought four bags of milk from someone online on October 19^th, two bags that had been freshly collected that day and two from October 17^th that had been frozen. She also froze the milk within 5 minutes of receiving it, and then sent them to the hospital for examination.

Announcing the results yesterday, Hsu and Li said all four bags of milk failed to meet standards as they contained gram-negative bacteria (革蘭氏陰性菌). Taipei’s Department of Health said gram-negative bacteria can ruin baby food, cause septicemia, and even lead to infant death.

Li said that the US Centers for Disease Control had issued a statement saying mother’s milk should be viewed as a form of body fluid. If babies drank milk that was not from their own mother or had not been screened, they could be infected by diseases, medicinal drugs or even narcotics in the milk. 

Department of Health (衛生署) Vice Minister Hsiao Mei-ling (蕭美玲) said that breast milk was of a special nature and was therefore different from general types of food products. The central government was still considering whether it should be regulated under the “Act Governing Food Sanitation” (用食品衛生管理法). For the time being it would be controlled by the Consumer Protection Act” (消保法), which required dealers to remove products from Internet auction sites. Sites should also take down webpages displaying breast milk for sale, otherwise the consumer protection authorities could use these laws to impose fines up to NT$300,000 (ca. US$10,000). 

                                                             Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: Melamine in plastic plates far higher than proposed standards

Following the announcement from the Department of Health (衛生署) earlier this month that Taiwan would enact a limit on the levels of melamine that will be permitted to dissolve from melamine-resin containers and utensils (see Taipei Times article here), the Kaohsiung Medical University (高雄醫學大學) has announced research findings showing that levels from products currently in use far exceed those proposed standards.

Published in today’s China Times (中國時報; full article here), the KMU tested five companies’ products made by polymerization of melamine and formaldehyde (美耐皿). Adding liquids at 60-70℃ for 15-30 minutes, it found that dissolved melamine increased with higher temperatures and longer time periods, and could reach as high as 19.03 ppm. This is 7.6 times higher than the DOH maximum permitted level of 2.5 ppm, and could, it claimed, increase the risks of kidney stones or ureterolithiasis (formation of stones in the ureter). 

These plates, bowls and utensils are commonly used at Taiwan's restaurants, even the hot pot stores that serve boiling broth.

                                                                                                                      Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011

News Brief: Govt agencies censured over food scare

The Taipei Times reported yesterday that three government agencies were censured by the Control Yuan for poor supervision of the use of plasticizers, which it said caused a food scare earlier this year and led to at least NT$11.4 billion (US$370 million) in losses for the food industry.

The Executive Yuan (“Cabinet”), Department of Health, and Environmental Protection Administration were reprimanded and told to investigate specific officials accused of dereliction of duty.

The Control Yuan, the nation’s watchdog, also suggested that Food and Drug Administration inspector Yang Ming-yu (楊明玉) be rewarded for discovering the banned plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) in bottled beverages and dairy products.

                                                                                                                      Text and photos © Jiyue Publications 2011