Sat, Aug 14, 2010 page2

• Two-thirds of foods mislabeled

  CONSUMER RIGHTS Products regularly make unsubstantiated claims of health benefits, the Consumers’ Foundation said, and urged the government to be stricter on labeling

  • By Shelley Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said a recent investigation of packaged foods and beverages sold in the country revealed that many of the claims indicated on the packaging are false or misleading.

  The consumer rights watchdog in May conducted a round of inspections on three types of packaged baked goods, eight types of packaged beverage products in powdered or liquid form and four types of miscellaneous foodstuffs priced between NT$10 to NT$145 and sold in supermarkets and retail chains across the country.

  The foundation’s inspectors checked the products’s contents for consistency with information or pictures on their packaging and found that two-thirds was not consistent with what was claimed.

  For example, a product labeled “linseed and toon [a Chinese herb] cake” would lead consumers to believe that the product was mainly made with linseed and toon, but its labeling failed to indicate how much of the herbs were actually in the cakes, foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said.

  Another product labeled “red yeast and cranberry cake” had similar problems, the foundation said.

  “Because linseed, toon and red yeast are commonly regarded as health supplements, when consumers see the name of these ingredients, they are led to believe that the food is healthy, but there is no way of knowing exactly how much of these ingredients are contained in the foods,” Hsieh said.

  The foundation also found that many bottled beverages may be in a gray area, because the products claim to reduce fat or improve health. For example, Sokenbicha (爽健美茶) claims health and beauty benefits, while “Hokkaido milk cereal” does not contain anything from Hokkaido in Japan and Coca-Cola’s Honey Pear Tea does not actually contain honey, Hsieh said.

  The foundation urged ­authorities to be strict on food labeling standards and issue fines to manufacturers that label their products with misleading, false or insufficient information.

  In response, Swire Coca-Cola said the company has complied with regulations by indicating on the packaging that the beverage is “honey and pear flavored” and that the company did not intend to mislead consumers. Other manufacturers declined to comment.

  In related news, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection yesterday said a recent inspection of incense and paper money used in traditional Taiwanese religious rituals showed that about half of the products were not properly labeled.

  Many people in Taiwan burn incense sticks and paper money, which is believed to be a form of after-death currency, on certain days of the Lunar calendar or when visiting the tombs of relatives and friends who have died.

  The bureau recently inspected 25 brands of incense and 25 brands of paper money to determine whether the products complied with product standards on chemical content and found that all the products passed safety tests. However, 17 brands of incense and nine brands of paper money were not properly labeled with required information, such as the manufacturer, place and date of manufacture.

  The bureau ordered the manufacturers to make improvements immediately or face fines of between NT$20,000 and NT$200,000.
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