About 17,000 tonnes of disposable chopsticks made in Vietnam could contain biphenyl or hydrogen peroxide, as the harmful chemicals were found by random inspections nationwide, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The agency said that among 225 samples of disposable chopsticks collected at 172 hypermarkets, supermarkets and disposable tableware wholesale stores, one sample was found to contain biphenyl and three other samples were found to contain hydrogen peroxide.
FDA Southern Center Interim Director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) said long-term exposure to both substances can cause negative health effects and long-term exposure to biphenyl can also cause liver damage.
He said regulations prohibit the use of biphenyl (a preservative) in chopstick production and that no hydrogen peroxide (a bleaching agent) residue should be present in the finished product, while sulfur dioxide (another bleaching agent) residue is limited to less than 500 parts per million in disposable chopsticks.
“The nation imports about 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of disposable chopsticks every year,” administration official Yang Chien-Hui (楊千慧) said, citing statistics of the past five years.
About 86 percent of disposable chopsticks are imported from China, 12 percent from Vietnam, 1.8 percent from Indonesia and the rest from various other countries, she added.
The four defective samples were all from Vietnam, from a total of about 17,000 tonnes that were imported, Liu said, adding that the administration has called for a recall of the chopsticks so they can be destroyed.
“If using disposable chopsticks is necessary, people should carefully look at and smell them before use, avoiding chopsticks that are too white or have a sour smell, which could indicate they contain excessive levels of bleaching agents,” Yang said.
The four importers of the chopsticks can face a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$908 and US$90,772) if they do not recall all products before Jan. 15, he said.
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