The Department of Health (DOH) pledged yesterday to crack down on soft drinks and dairy products containing a banned chemical and to pull all products that contain the substance off store shelves.
The department announced on Monday that it had detected the chemical DEHP in 16 samples of sports and soft drinks, including Sunkist lemon juice, Taiwan Yes energy boosting drink and a sports drink from Young Energy Source Co.
Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲), director-general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said it was the first recorded case of a manufacturer adding a plasticizer to a legal clouding agent food additive.
The FDA will trace downstream businesses from the maker of the agent, Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司), Kang said, adding that the owner, Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑), had been detained.
“All problematic products will be pulled from store shelves,” he said.
Four convenience store chains and eight hypermarts agreed to stop selling several brand-name sports and soft drinks containing the banned chemical starting at midnight on Monday after the department made its initial announcement.
Consumers can return products containing DEHP to the stores for refunds, the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) said.
Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學), a section chief at the commission, added that the CPC had asked local consumer protection officials to work with health officials and prosecutors to continue to trace the affected products.
Prosecutors said clouding agent formulated with palm oil may be used as a food additive. However, as the cost of palm oil is high, Lai is alleged to have been adding industrial plasticizer to his clouding agent, which he supplied to at least 45 soft drink and dairy manufacturers around Taiwan.
Lai, 57, the owner of the largest clouding agent supplier in the nation, has a high-capacity manufacturing plant in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, and supplies Chinese and Vietnamese manufacturers as well as local companies.
Control Yuan members Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) and Yang Mei-ling (楊美鈴) yesterday said they would open an investigation into the case to determine whether it was inadequate regulations or lax enforcement of regulations that led to the use of DEHP.
The government watchdog will hold responsible officials if any irregularities are found, Cheng said.
Yang praised the department for looking into the case on its own initiative, but said other questions remained.
“We need to find out how long the DOH has been aware of the problem, what it did before the case was made public [on Monday], how long it took the DOH to examine the additives and what it did to make sure that all the problematic drink products were pulled off the shelves,” Cheng said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
AMENDMENT: Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of high-temperature days, affecting economic productivity and public health, experts said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is considering amending the Meteorological Act (氣象法) to classify “high temperatures” as “hazardous weather,” providing a legal basis for work or school closures due to extreme heat. CWA Administrator Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) yesterday said the agency plans to submit the proposed amendments to the Executive Yuan for review in the fourth quarter this year. The CWA has been monitoring high-temperature trends for an extended period, and the agency contributes scientific data to the recently established High Temperature Response Alliance led by the Ministry of Environment, Lu said. The data include temperature, humidity, radiation intensity and ambient wind,
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
RSS