Banned oils resurface
I was on a China Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Macau on Sept. 22 and was served a pack of TK Food’s Sun Moon Lake black tea layered cookies “made with hydrogenated palm oil.”
Saturated and hydrogenated oils, including hydrogenated polyunsaturated oils, were banned last year.
Aside from this grave error, 90 percent of labels in Taiwan do not tell the buyer the percentage of oils in food products.
If retailers were fined the amount they earned from the sales of products containing the banned oils, the money would probably pay for the medical care for all the children with diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer that saturated and hydrogenated oils cause each year.
The public should be on the lookout for the many products made in fast-food restaurants that contain saturated, hydrogenated, hydrogenated polyunsaturated or counterfeit oils.
Steven Horton
Hong Kong
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