The Taipei City Department of Health yesterday said it had found that one-sixth of the 102 samples of zongzi (粽子) rice dumplings and filling ingredients it collected and tested recently failed to meet hygienic standards.
Zongzi are a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. They are often consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on June 16 this year.
The Department of Health conducted the test to ensure the safety of the seasonal food, but found that 16 of the 102 samples contained excessive amounts of chemical ingredients that could be harmful to health.
The tests were thorough, covering meat, vegetarian and sweet zongzi as well as ingredients sold to make their fillings, such as shrimp, salted duck egg yolks, dried radish and pickled mustard tubers, and the bamboo leaves used to wrap the mix.
The tests found that 10 of the dried radish samples had excessive levels of the preservative benzoic acid, and two pickled mustard tuber samples had excessive amounts of preservatives and the bleaching agent sulfur dioxide.
One of the bamboo leaves also had too much bleaching agent, the health officials said.
The health officials said preservatives could be dissolved in water, and those found in dried radishes could be removed by immersing the radishes in hot water for a while.
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