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.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face