A total of 167 food ingredient suppliers face recalls because of toxic contamination in connection with an emulsifying additive, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
So far, the plasticizer Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) has been detected in the products of 47 local manufacturers of food and drinks that unknowingly used the tainted ingredient, all of which have to be recalled, said Hsu Ming-neng (許銘能), deputy director--general of the department’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Hsu urged other manufacturers to send their products for tests to prove that they are free of the harmful chemical.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Taiwan is gripped in a food scare after the department confirmed on Monday that DEHP had been found in an emulsifier that is commonly used in fruit jelly, yogurt mix powder, juices and other drinks.
Investigations show that the tainted emulsifier products were either produced by Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司) or came from intermediaries supplied by the company.
Some of the tainted ingredients and products were believed to have been exported overseas.
Hsu said the FDA should be able to track most of the -contaminated items within the next couple of days, when the department will again write to the International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) under the WHO to report the details.
Hsu said he told INFOSAN officials of the incident while attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva earlier this week. The department later also wrote to INFOSAN via e-mail to provide further information, but the group has not yet responded, he said.
Among the products that were recalled yesterday were Taiwan Sugar Co’s (Taisugar, 台糖) “Turmeric Oyster Shell” supplement tablets and Hey Song Corp’s (黑松) “FruitHouse” probiotic powder and three other brands of dietary supplements.
Food ingredient exporter Poss-mei Corp said it has notified its clients in more than 20 countries to stop selling its concentrated juice products and await test results.
According to Possmei, the company will further inform its clients if the products are safe as soon as the results are available.
Passion fruit juice, mango juice and lychee juice produced by Possmei were on the DEHP -contamination-related recall list announced by the New Taipei City’s (新北市) Health Bureau on Wednesday.
The company also supplies bubble milk tea ingredients. Among its most well-known oversea clients is Bubbleology tea house in London, which has also expressed concern over the DEHP contamination in Taiwan.
Possmei, however, said that the emulsifier is usually not added when making tapioca balls — a main ingredient of bubble milk tea — making contamination unlikely.
Giant Union Co, a supplier of oriental foods and commodities in Los Angeles, said on Wednesday that it has stopped importing “popping boba,” a translucent gummy ball from Possmei that contains flavored juices and can be added to drinks.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS