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DOH plays down toxic milk powder fears

The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said that some finished products such as mooncakes and coffee beverages made with imported toxic milk powder have already been sold and consumed.

All future dairy products imported from China, however, will be tested for the presence of melamine, officials said.

The DOH said the powder had not been made into any infant products in Taiwan, but that it had been sold to bakeries, farmers and biochemical companies in many parts of Taiwan to be put into products such as mooncakes, bread, canned coffee beverages, papaya milk beverages, calcium tablets and fertilizer.

The DOH has been able to locate and seal between 50 percent and 60 percent of the contaminated products, authorities said.

“On average, baked goods contain between 1 percent and 3 percent [of the toxic milk powder] and coffee beverages contain 1.5 percent at the most,” said Hsiao Tung-ming (蕭東銘), acting director of the Bureau of Food Safety.

“According to standards set by the European Food Safety Authority, 0.5mg of melamine is the tolerable daily intake for every kilogram of body weight per day,” said Lin Ja-liang (林杰樑), director of clinical toxicology at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.

This means that a person who weighs 60kg would have to consume more than 200g of pure melamine, or “tens of kilograms of the contaminated milk powder” to die from an overdose.

Lin said the reason for kidney stones in infants in China was because “their kidneys are not fully developed yet and they don’t know how to tell their parents where they hurt,” adding that in Taiwan, because the toxic milk powder is only one of the many ingredients in food and beverage products, “chances [of overdose] are close to zero.”

For those who are still worried about having consumed the harmful substance, Lin’s advice is to detoxify by drinking lots of water.

The safest way is to drink enough water to produce 2000cc of urine, which would lead one to urinate about seven times a day.

“[Doing this] will rid the body of about 90 percent of all kidney stones under 0.5cm,” Lin said.

Lin also said that because the contaminated products “are already in our bodies,” authorities should react faster in the future to protect consumers.

“We will work with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to ensure that all dairy products imported from China have been tested for melamine before they enter our borders,” Hsiao said.

“If China kept the information to themselves, it would have been very difficult for us [to detect that products have been contaminated],” Hsiao said, adding that governmental agencies will work to set up preventative measures.

Control Yuan member Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said yesterday that he would file an application at the Control Yuan today to initiate an investigation to determine if the Department of Health, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council of Agriculture had neglected their duties in case.

In addition to Taipei City, the DOH said that they found the toxic milk powder had been sold in at least nine counties and cities, including Taichung City, Taipei County, Taoyuan County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Hualien County and Kaohsiung County.
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