The Department of Health yesterday said it planned to follow the principles and standards set by the EU by adopting a set of values for the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of plasticizer chemicals.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said health officials had recently met food industry and environmental health experts to discuss setting a TDI value for plasticizer chemicals, such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate, or DINP.
In the three weeks since news broke that plasticizer chemicals had been discovered in food and beverage products nationwide, it has been estimated that more than 400 businesses have been affected, as many consumers have shied away from buying products from packaged sports drinks to cough syrup.
Since then, food industry associations have urged the government to set a tolerable intake level for plasticizer chemicals to prevent mass panic over consuming minute amounts of the banned substances.
Experts said it was vital for regulators to differentiate between food with high levels of plasticizer chemicals and low levels and allow this distinction to be clear to consumers so they will not be overly concerned about consuming such chemicals.
While food with high levels of the potentially harmful chemicals are likely the result of companies adding illegal chemicals to food additives, food with low levels may have been the result of exposure to such chemicals in the environment or in packaging. Consumption of such chemicals below TDI levels does not present a health risk.
The FDA said the consensus among academics and experts was to follow the guidelines set forth by the EU in determining the maximum amount of each substance permitted per day, for each kilogram a person weighs.
“When the TDI standards are set, the public will be able to know how to keep consumption of these chemicals below safe levels and be able to self-manage their health,” Kang said.
Kang said not all plasticizers contained in food and beverage products were the result of intentional contamination by manufacturers. The contamination could come from the environment, such as the containers, or even during the process of food preparation, he said.
The FDA also advised consumers to minimize exposure to plasticizers by avoiding putting food in plastic bags and boxes and to especially avoid heating food in plastic containers or covered in plastic wrap.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching