The government will soon begin its second phase of actions against plasticizers in food products after having screened almost every relevant retailer and wholesaler amid the largest food contamination scare that has ever hit the country.
The Department of Health (DOH) is scheduled to convene a food safety meeting within the next two weeks to discuss a proposal to expand the existing food traceability system to cover food additives, said Tsai Shu-chen (蔡淑貞), head of the food division of the Food and Drug Administration.
The department will also conduct more research on plasticizers to determine how plastic bags and containers, as well as plasticizers that exist in the environment, taint the foods that people consume, she added.
With the study, the department will determine the maximum allowable plasticizer intake per person per day based on standards adopted by European countries, the US and Japan for public reference, Tsai said.
Addressing the government’s plasticizer roundup, the -department official said that in their first phase of action, investigators in all 22 cities and counties in the country inspected more than 16,000 retailers and wholesalers as of noon yesterday.
“Not only stores with business licenses, but also traditional grocery stores, breakfast shops and food stands in traditional markets have been screened,” she said.
So far, more than 20,000 items have been taken off shelves because they lacked a food safety certificate, she added.
Late last month, di(2--ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, were found to have been added to clouding agents produced by Yu Shen Chemical Co and Pin Han Perfumery Co.
Starting on May 31, local retailers have been forbidden from selling five categories of food and beverages — sports drinks, juices, tea drinks, fruit jams or syrups, and dietary tablets or powders — unless those products have been certified free of six plasticizers — DEHP, DINP, di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) and butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP).
As the food scare grips the nation, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last night presided over a meeting at the Presidential Office, where he received briefings from government agencies on the latest news on the matter.
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
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai