Test results on noodles produced by South Korea’s Nongshim Co that were reported to contain traces of benzopyrene and were recalled in South Korea last month, showed low levels of benzopyrene that were within the limits set under international standards, the Department of Health said yesterday.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said shortly after South Korea recalled six Nongshim products, including two types found to contain a known carcinogen, benzopyrene, the agency immediately ordered two Nongshim-brand noodles sold in Taiwan — Neoguri seafood mild noodles and Neoguri seafood spicy noodles — to be taken off store shelves on Oct. 25.
In addition, the FDA said it had asked the New Taipei City (新北市) Government’s health department to inspect all imported Nongshim products and to send samples to the agency for laboratory testing.
Among five samples tested, the spice powders of two Neoguri seafood mild noodles samples were found to contain benzopyrene levels of 1.01 parts per billion (ppb) and 0.97ppb, the FDA said.
The levels of benzopyrene found in the tests were below the limits stipulated by the EU and the WHO, it said, adding that with a benzopyrene concentration of 1.01ppb, a person who weighs 60kg would ingest about 0.012mcg of benzopyrene from one bag of instant noodles, lower than the estimated average daily intake of 0.24mcg (for a person of 60kg) calculated by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives.
Because the amount of spice powder eaten with instant noodles is small, the exposure to benzopyrene is not considered harmful to human health, the FDA added.
At the Legislative Yuan yesterday, FDA Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (康照洲) said: “We will quickly do a background survey on all food products, and set a standard for the substance after we have gained enough information and have discussed it with specialists.”
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS