The Department of Health yesterday said it did not plan to include bread and other baked goods in its inspection regime for illegal plasticizers, as the contamination had mostly been discovered in baked goods containing jam.
Since news broke that potentially harmful chemicals have been found in food additives, the department has required manufacturers of five categories of foods and beverages — sports drinks; juice; tea drinks; fruit jams and syrups; as well as tablets and powders — to provide certificates showing their products are free of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and other plasticizer chemicals.
Last week, Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司), which is under investigation for allegedly using DEHP in food additives, said pastry shops were among its customers.
Prosecutors have said that Yu Shen purchased about 5 tonnes of DEHP every month to make flavor and food coloring agents and sold the products to domestic producers of jam and baked goods, as well as pastry shops.
This revelation led to the investigation of seven of the nation’s most popular jam, bread and pastry businesses, which were alleged to have bought plasticizer-tainted food additives.
As the number of tainted products continues to spread to other food categories that may contain artificial flavoring, questions have been raised as to whether inspections should be extended to baked goods and pastries.
Food and Drug Administration Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said that more than 30,000 products fell under the five categories of foods and beverages that need to undergo laboratory testing.
As such, there was not enough time or resources to conduct comprehensive inspections of each bakery or pastry shop, Kang said.
Kang said the important thing for health officials to focus on was to track down the source of tainted raw materials and the downstream companies which had bought these products.
The department said consumers should not be too concerned about buying bread or other baked goods that do not contain jam.
Experts have pointed to the possible presence of plasticizer chemicals in jam and artificially made juice concentrates because the chemicals could be used as fixative agents, which can help products smell fresh longer.
Meanwhile, laboratory tests showed that samples of a 12.7cm tiramisu sold by RT-Mart contained 3.6 parts per million of di--isononyl phthalate, or DINP, which has led to questions as to whether its suppliers provided RT-Mart with contaminated material or whether the plasticizer chemicals came from the product packaging.
RT-Mart said it did not source its materials from the list of suppliers that may have used or manufactured contaminated food additives.
Health officials said it was unclear at what point in the production and packaging process the tiramisu was contaminated with DINP.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue