The Department of Health’s Food and Drug Administration has set a limit of less than 2.5 parts per million (ppm) on the density of melamine that has dissolved in food after being put in melamine resin containers, sources said, adding that the new regulation might be enacted as soon as the end of this year.
At present, only the EU and China have food limits on the amount of melamine dissolved from melamine resin, with the EU’s standard set at below 30ppm.
Although Taiwan’s planned standard seems to be stricter than in other countries, Wu Chia-cheng (吳家誠), a chemistry professor at National Taiwan Normal University, said the health department “did not do the good deed all the way.”
Melamine resin is a plastic material made from melamine and formaldehyde through polymerization.
Wu said that melamine resin should not be used to make kitchen utensils and food containers in the first place, and especially not for children’s food containers.
“The quality of melamine resin containers is unstable,” Wu said.
He said the department’s method of examining dissolved melamine density is by using 4 percent acetic acid on containers made from melamine resin, then subjecting them to 95°C temperatures for 30 minutes.
However, there are substances in food other than acetic acid that can dissolve melamine, he said, adding that the containers used for testing are all new, while old resin containers with scratches could dissolve more melamine.
Lin Ja-liang (林杰樑), a clinical toxicology specialist at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City (新北市), said that when melamine-resin containers are of poor quality, placed under high temperatures or come in contact with highly acidic foods, they might not only dissolve melamine, which can cause bladder stones, kidney stones and other kidney damage, but also formaldehyde, which could cause cancer.
Therefore, strict regulations are needed, he said.
Department officials said there were regulations on how much formaldehyde may be dissolved from melamine-resin containers, which does more harm to the body.
Because the health risks of melamine have become well known in recent years, with the WHO setting a tolerable daily intake limit, department officials said related standards were being planned in Taiwan after studying regulations in other countries.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS