A Taiwanese bubble tea drink operator in Germany made public on Friday test results that showed the ingredients in its products are safe for consumption, rebutting a media report that the beverage may contain chemicals that could cause cancer.
The results of the tests, conducted by a German government-certified lab, showed the ingredients in the beverage conform to German health regulations, said Lai Ming-ching, owner of Berlin-headquartered teashop chain BoBoQ and Possmei, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of bubble tea drink ingredients.
Lai was rebutting a report published on Aug. 21 by German newspaper Rheinische Post that said the drink contained carcinogenic chemicals such as styrene, acetophenone and brominated substances.
The media report said samples were collected from an unnamed franchise chain in Moenchengladbach, Germany, and tested by RWTH Aachen University and instrument firm Leco Instrumente GmbH.
Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, also ran the report and said most of the materials were imported from Taiwan.
Lai said such negative reports have led to a loss of business in BoBoQ’s 100-plus franchised stores. The company intends to collect evidence and may take legal action against the media outlets that ran “false reports” against BoBoQ’s products, he said.
Taiwan’s representative office in Germany also issued a statement dated Aug. 31, saying food items in Taiwan are monitored under the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).
It said that Taiwan carries out regular checks to make sure exported goods comply with the legal requirements of the destination countries.
Meanwhile, on Sept. 2, German radio station Deutschland Radio reported that the tests cited in the Rheinische Post article did not specify examination methods or the amount of cancer-causing substances found in the drink.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
RSS