Using tea bags and spice pouches may produce good tea and tasty dishes, but people should use them with care to prevent harmful effects, the Consumer Protection Commission said yesterday.
The commission urged the Department of Health to amend regulatory standards for food and utensil packaging to protect public health.
A recent test of 30 items by the commission all met the “Sanitation Standards for Food and Utensil Packaging,” but the results were still worrisome because the regulatory standards do not take into account Taiwanese cooking habits, said Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學), a section chief at the commission.
Of the 30 items, 22 used plastic packaging and the other eight used paper.
The plastic packagings did not contain lead or cadmium solutes and their potassium permanganate levels of 1.1mg per liter to 7.9mg per liter were well within the legal limit of 10mg per liter, the commission said.
Neither were there traces of plasticizers, including Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) and di-octyl phthalate (DOP) — in the packaging, it said.
The six chemicals were targeted because of the plasticizer scare that rattled the nation in May.
Current standards for plastic packaging stipulate that the packaging should not emit solutions containing lead or cadmium when cooked for 30 minutes at 95oC, nor plasticizers such as DEHP or DBP when cooked for an hour at 25oC.
The eight paper packaging products did not contain traces of optical brightening agents (OBA) or formaldehyde, the commission added.
Paper packaging regulations state that there should be no traces of OBA when the product is placed in liquid at or more than 95oC for more than 30 minutes.
However, the commission expressed concern over the fact that Taiwanese dishes are usually cooked over a matter of hours, which may result in elevated levels of the chemicals.
“We have already recommended that the Department of Health consider amending sanitation standards to take into account Taiwanese cooking habits,” Wu said.
The commission said it also found that the tags that come with tea bags or spice pouches are usually not labeled as part of the packaging. A casual test of the tags according to the standards of the Sanitation Standards for Food and Utensil Packaging yielded 11.7 parts per million (parts per million) of potassium permanganate, exceeding the legal amount.
Users of tea bags and coffee bags should avoid dropping or placing the tags in the water, the commission said.
The plastic packaging found in 22 of the 30 samples is a departure from the common expectation that spice pouches are wrapped in cloth or paper bags, the commission said, adding that it had recommended the department consider regulating material specification for foodstuff packaging being steeped or cooked at high temperatures.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
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