More than 75 percent of major convenience stores, coffee shops and fast food chains continued to use polystyrene cup lids for hot drinks after the material was found to be non-resistant to high temperatures, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors said yesterday, urging Taipei City’s Department of Health to instruct local stores to stop using the lids.
Plastic cup lids made of polystyrene can withstand temperatures of up to 90°C.
The Department of Health (DOH) under the Executive Yuan said polystyrene should be used for non-acidic cold drinks or food, while for hot drinks, stores are advised to use containers made of polypropylene, which can withstand temperatures of up to 140°C and is resistant to acidic, alkaline or alcoholic beverages.
Both polystyrene and polypropylene are legal container materials under the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), and starting on July 21, business owners will be required to include information on the materials, maximum temperature and manufacture date of the containers on them. However, the act does not mandate the use of polypropylene for all hot drinks.
A random inspection by DPP Taipei City Councilor Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) found that only four out of 16 convenience stores, coffee chain stores and fast food chains in Taipei used polypropylene cup lids for take-out coffee.
Three major convenience store chains, including FamilyMart, OKmart and Hi-Life, have replaced polystyrene lids with polypropylene lids, and 85°C Bakery Cafe chain also used polypropylene lids for hot drinks.
President Chain Store Corp, which operates the nation’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, major coffee chains including Starbucks and Mr Brown Coffee, and fast food chains including McDonalds, Mos Burger and KFC continued to use polystyrene cup lids for hot drinks, the inspection found.
“The temperature of a cup of hot coffee can reach 95°C, and using polystyrene lids for high-temperature food can cause users to ingest carcinogens. The stores that still use polystyrene lids are ignoring the health of consumers and before the department takes more actions to ban the use of the harmful material for hot drinks, the city government should do more to protect our residents,” Wu said.
Taipei Food and Drug Division Director Chen Li-chi (陳立奇) said the department has been communicating with 7-Eleven and other local stores on the use of polypropylene lids, and the department will continue to conduct regular inspections on stores citywide to promote the use of polypropylene lids until July.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data