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DOH issues soy sauce warning

Nearly 5 percent of the soy sauce sold on the Taiwan market contains an excessive amount of a chemical contaminant that can cause cancer, the Department of Health announced (DOH) yesterday.

The chemical, 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), occurs as a result of food processing when acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein which is used to speed the production process, is added.

Exceeding the legal limit

According to DOH regulations, the maximum amount of 3-MCPD permitted in soy sauce must be below 1 part per million (ppm).

The DOH held a press conference yesterday to announce the results of its nationwide inspection, which was conducted between February and June.

Results of the inspection showed that the amount of 3-MCPD in 10 out of 212 samples of different brands and types of locally-produced and imported soy sauces exceeded the safety limit.

Production methods cited

Chen Lu-hung (陳陸宏), director of DOH's Bureau of Food Sanitation, explained yesterday that the methods of soy sauce production affect the amount of 3-MCPD in the product.

"Soy sauce brewed purely from soybeans and with a long period of fermentation contains no or extremely low levels of 3-MCPD," he said.

"Soy sauces that contain too much 3-MCPD are for the most part synthetically produced."

Synthetic production of soy sauce, according to Chen, means that instead of fermenting soybeans over a long period of time, producers add hydrochloric acid to hydrolyze the soybean protein and to accelerate production

"While brewing soy sauce with long fermention periods takes about four months, producing it with synthetic techniques takes only about a week," he said

According to the DOH, although excessive 3-MCPD could accelerate the onset of cancer, reasonable amounts can be consumed daily without immediate or serious risks to health.

The DOH said that the maximum allowable daily amount of 3-MCPD is 2 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (1 microgram is 0.001 milligrams). For instance, the tolerable amount of 3-MCPD intake for an adult who weighs 60kg would be 0.12 milligrams per day.

Soy sauce factories that didn't meet safety standards were ordered to take their products off of grocer's shelves and to improve their production processes to reduce 3-MCPD levels in their products.

The inspection effort kicked off after the department implemented new regulations for 3-MCPD in soy sauce in January.

Britain prompted closer examination

Last June, the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued a warning to consumers about the risk of cancer from more than 10 brands soy sauce -- many of them from famous Taiwanese brands, such as Wanjashan (萬家香) and Kimlan (金蘭) -- for excessive amounts of 3-MCPD.

"We started the inspection right after the [British] regulation was implemented and we have checked only products that were produced after Jan. 1." Chen told the Taipei Times.

The products from Wanjashan and Kimlan passed the inspection.

Information about the inspection can be found on the Bureau of Food Sanitation's Web site at: http://food.doh.gov.tw
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