The Consumer Protection Committee advised parents to avoid dipping pacifiers in boiling water for extended periods of time, as doing so could cause the items to crack and emit hazardous substances.
The department issued the warning following the results of the random tests on 13 baby pacifiers — including 10 that violated labeling regulations.
Two failed a heat-resistance test and one experienced color fading after being repeatedly immersed in boiling water.
Senior consumer ombudsman Wang Te-ming (王德明) said the pacifier samples were purchased in October last year and were tested for plasticizers, heavy metals, evaporation deposits and resistance to heat and boiling.
“Two of them — from the Basilic and US Baby brands — were labeled as being temperature resistant to more than 300°C, but they started to crack when heated to that temperature,” Wang said.
The color of a pacifier marketed under the brand Billy-Bob began to fade after it was boiled in water 10 times, while 10 of the samples were improperly labeled due to the omission of information such as preservation procedures, manufacturers’ contact numbers or importers’ addresses, Wang added.
“Parents are advised to avoid heating plastic children’s products, including pacifiers and feeding bottles, on electric hot plates or boiling them in water, because some substances released by the products during the process could pose a potential health risk to babies,” Wang said.
Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), a section chief at the Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Food Safety, said the ideal way to clean a pacifier is to rinse it with clean water at between 80°C and 90°C or a small amount of neutral detergent.
“If plastic products are dipped in hot water for long periods of time, they could deteriorate and emit potentially harmful substances,” Cheng said.
The department said it has asked the manufacturers and importers of deficient products to make necessary improvements within a month. Failure to do so could see them being fined up to NT$300,000, in accordance with the Commodity Labeling Act (商品標示法).
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