Amid a growing health scare over contaminated milk products from China, the Consumers’ Foundation (消基會) found no trace of melamine contamination in an examination of 57 food products.
The tested products, bought from various sources in Taipei, were divided into six main categories: bread, goat’s milk, instant powdered drinks, instant soup, instant coffee and milk tea, and egg pudding powder.
Foundation board member and commissioner Gaston Wu (吳家誠) urged the government at a press conference yesterday to help consumers identify foods that are safe to eat and to conduct a comprehensive examination of all dairy products, including those that are not from China.
Wu warned yesterday that a cheaper chemical, such as urea, might have been added to milk powder, based on the information he obtained from China.
Other toxic substances may be produced if the milk is heated, which would turn the urea into melamine, Wu said.
Foundation acting chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said yesterday the foundation was against the addition of melamine to food and would not compromise on the issue.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
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