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DOH warns of toxic peanut products

Health authorities have ordered the removal from all store shelves and destruction of more than 2 tonnes of aflatoxin-contaminated peanut products imported from Vietnam.

Su Shih-hua, general manager of San Mei Trading Co, told the Central News Agency on Wednesday that his company had recalled half of the contaminated goods and was in the process of recalling the other half.

Although records show that San Mei imported 10.7 tonnes of peanut candies from Vietnam between November last year and February, Su admitted that most of the goods, sold to various food companies for repackaging under different brand names, would be difficult to trace.

Su said he had contacted his suppliers in Ho Chi Minh City, which denied their products were contaminated. Su said his company would have to absorb the losses, estimated at more than NT$3 million (US$100,000).

"I don't know what went wrong. All I can do now is stop doing business with them. Maybe I'll find another supplier, or just cease importing peanut products from Vietnam," he said.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday released a report showing that its officials had tested 67 samples of peanut products bought from stores around the country and found that seven contained unacceptably high levels of aflatoxin.

Of the seven contaminated samples, six were imported from Vietnam by San Mei Trading Co. While the aflatoxin levels in most of the samples tested at between 17 and 55 parts per billion (ppb), one sample had 294ppb -- far above the 15ppb maximum limit.

David Cheng (鄭慧文), director of the Bureau of Food Sanitation, said Vietnam was Taiwan's largest supplier of peanut candy.

Imports of peanut candy in the first quarter of the year reached 1,316 tonnes, with 1,174 tonnes coming from Vietnam.

Cheng said DOH records show that a sister company of San Mei had similar contamination problems with peanut candy it imported from Vietnam in 2005 and 2006.

Aflatoxin is known to be a carcinogenic substance. It can damage the liver and lead to other chronic disorders.
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