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.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
RSS