The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection said yesterday that it was studying Japan’s methods of testing tableware made of melamine and would collaborate with the Department of Health to set a limit on the amount of melamine released by food containers.
The government has not established a test to determine the amount of melamine released from utensils and tableware made from melamine resin, although it has set limits on the amount of formaldehyde that can be released.
The Consumers’ Foundation conducted a test based on Japanese methods that found that 100 percent of the 20 melamine-resin tableware products tested released melamine when filled with hot food or drink.
The foundation said on Monday the tests that showed that all 20 samples contained excessive amounts of melamine. Eight of them had no warning against microwave use, the foundation said.
It recommended consumers use stainless steel and ceramics instead of melamine tableware.
Bureau Deputy Director Wang Cheng-huei (王正輝) said the bureau would obtain more information on Japan’s testing methods.
Given the Consumers’ Foundation experiment, consumers should not use melamine products for hot food or in the microwave, he said, adding that manufacturers should clearly label their products.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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