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.
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