Food vendors in traditional and nightmarkets are facing a bigger impact from the widening scare over the use of banned industrial ingredients in food than retail chains, according to operators in the retail sector.
Spokespersons for supermarket chains, including Carrefour and A.Mart, as wells as convenience store chains such as FamilyMart, said in separate interviews over the past few days that the discovery of a banned ingredient and an industry-grade preservative in food products has had a limited impact on their business in the past few weeks.
The chain stores said they can easily and immediately pull problematic products off their shelves. Their stores also often offer consumers several options for each product.
Consumers would keep shopping at their stores despite the food scare, they added.
However, for vendors at traditional markets or night markets, the situation is different because they often sell just one or two types of snacks and beverages, the retail chains said.
Consumers were unnerved by the discovery of maleic acid in popular food products such as rice noodles, hotpot ingredients and tapioca balls, which are used to make pearl milk tea.
The substance was later traced back to a modified starch containing maleic anhydride, a chemical used in the production of food packing materials.
Maleic anhydride is transformed into maleic acid when mixed with water and it use in modified starches is banned in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Malaysian media reports say many stores that sell bubble milk tea drinks and Taiwanese desserts there have been hit by the starch contamination storm from Taiwan.
Coolblog, a popular dessert and beverage brand that has 250 outlets in Malaysia, has recorded a 20 percent drop in sales since the starch scandal broke in Taiwan last month, according to a Coolblog executive.
Last week, Malaysian health authorities announced a ban on the import of 11 Taiwanese food products that were found to contain traces of maleic acid, and urged local businesses to recall all the problematic products.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
RSS