In a bid to ease public concerns over chemical-tainted food products, health officials said yesterday they will place government-certified safety labels on Taipei’s vending machines once the contents have been confirmed safe.
Over the next five days, the labels will be affixed to whichever of the city’s 7,500 vending machines are deemed to hold safe products, Taipei City Department of Health officials said.
Health officials said they have already instructed vending machine distributors to provide them with detailed lists of the products sold in their machines, as well as food inspection results and the identification numbers and locations of their machines.
The posting will be completed within five days, according to Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美), chief secretary of the department.
Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, were found last week to have been added to a commonly used clouding agent by Yu Shen Chemical Co and Pin Han Perfumery Co respectively, resulting in a massive recall of products from store shelves.
Manufacturers of five types of food and beverages that commonly use clouding agent, including sports drinks, tea drinks, juices, fruit jams, syrups, jellies and dietary supplements in capsule, tablet or powdered form are now required to submit certification proving their products are free of illegal chemicals before they can be sold.
The safety labels will be valid for three months, after which a reinspection will be conducted and new labels issued, officials said.
In other developments, at least 12 more juice products purchased from Ging Kuo Wang, a major juice producer that used questionable clouding agents from Yu Shen Chemical Co, were found in Taipei yesterday. The city’s health department fined one company NT$150,000 for avoiding inspections.
The company, Creation Food Co, informed the department yesterday it was commissioned to sell clouding agents from Ging Kuo Wang to restaurants and drink shops.
The company did not produce any food or drink products using the problematic clouding agents. However, it sold 12 kinds of juice from Ging Kuo Wang to restaurants and shops and failed to inform the department by Monday when Ging Kuo Wang was found using questionable clouding agents.
Chiang said the department has confiscated 5,829 boxes of products that were contaminated with DEHP since a nationwide inspection of the five categories of food and beverages was launched on Tuesday.
The department yesterday also fined Chang Gung Biotechnology Corp NT$60,000 for continuing to sell two problematic products after the products tested positive for DEHP on Tuesday.
“We want to remind all manufacturers and shops to inform us if they use any problematic products. Heavy fines and punishments will be given if they fail to notify us,” she said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost