The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced that it on Wednesday identified two products made by Mother Nature Co (春橋田) and Taiwan Naturals and Organics Inc (台灣有機) that contain repackaged ingredients that expired nine years ago.
The agency said it had impounded 29 tonnes of the products, adding that it ordered all products manufactured by the two firms to be removed from store shelves nationwide by midnight yesterday.
Administration official Yang Chien-hui (楊千慧) said that staff from both companies admitted that seven expired products — cashews, three types of almonds, oatmeal and powdered and granular black sugar — had been repackaged into a total of 31 products.
Photo provided by the New Taipei City Government’s Department of Health
One product, Kuang Chung Almonds (光中杏), contains almonds that expired in August 2008, which have been repackaged into the newer product over the past nine years, Yang said.
The administration is investigating which chain stores have distributed the expired products, but the list would not be published until every package is tracked down, FDA Southern Taiwan Management Center Director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) said.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said the two firms are suspected of having generated more than NT$1 million (US$33,132) in profit from sales of the products containing expired ingredients.
Photo: Huang Chien-hua, Taipei Times
The 56-year-old owner of both companies, surnamed Hsu (許), a general manager surnamed Tsai (蔡), an administrative department director also surnamed Tsai and a warehouse manager surnamed Cheng (鄭) were released on bail after questioning by prosecutors on Thursday, the office said.
Bail was set at NT$300,000 for Hsu, NT$200,000 each for the Tsais and NT$100,000 for Cheng, it added.
Harmful microorganisms can accumulate in food products that have expired, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Department of Toxicology doctor Yan Tsung-hai (顏宗海) said, adding that ingesting such foods could cause acute gastroenteritis.
Photo: Huang Chien-hua, Taipei Times
If left too long after expiring, almonds and other nuts, as well as peanuts, can generate aflatoxins, which can cause hepatoxicity — chemically induced liver damage — after being eaten, Yan said.
Separately yesterday, the Taichung Department of Health said in a news release that 12.5 tonnes of unmarked pork was found in the possession of a meat importer in Cingshui District (清水) on April 26.
Frozen chicken drumsticks that had expired at least three months ago were also found at the importer, the department said, adding that all products have been impounded.
The department said it was investigating whether more products from the importer remain on the market.
Additional reporting by Tsai Shu-yuan
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique