A test into different types of barbecue grills showed that toxic heavy metal substances are not released when they are heated, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
The agency’s test was in response to an online rumor about meat contamination ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, a popular time for barbecues in Taiwan.
Liao Chia-ding (廖家鼎), a section chief at the agency’s Laboratory Research and Development Division, said the FDA bought 10 barbecue grills made of different materials and tested them by grilling two types of pork loin — one marinated in soy sauce and one without marinade.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Tasipei Times
“We did not detect heavy metal substances, such as chromium, nickel or aluminum, on the meat that might have been released by the grill,” Liao said, adding that the public should not be too concerned by the rumor.
He said that the only type of heavy metal substance detected by the test was zinc, ranging from 0.5 to 12.3 parts per million (ppm).
According to the government’s Taiwan Food Nutrition and Composition Database, the level of zinc concentration in pork is about 17.5ppm, meaning that the zinc detected in the test might be from the meat itself, he said.
An adult would have to eat about 3kg of pork each day to consume enough zinc to exceed the recommended dietary allowance, Liao said, adding that a moderate zinc intake is part of a healthy diet.
While the test also showed that aluminum foil does not release aluminum when it is heated on a barbecue, Liao said that people should avoid using sauces with high levels of acidity on the foil to reduce the risk of aluminum being released.
In related news, people should remember to eat a balanced diet during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday to avoid gaining weight, as the calories of a mooncake can equal that of 3.5 bowls of cooked rice, a hospital nutritionist said.
Chuang Shih-mine (莊世玟), director of Taipei Medical University Shuang Ho Hospital’s Diet and Nutrition Department, said many people think the Mid-Autumn Festival must be celebrated by eating mooncakes, but traditional Cantonese mooncakes are usually filled with sugar and oil.
A 200g Cantonese mooncake can contain up to 850 calories, a 60g egg yolk crispy pastry contains about 250 to 300 calories, and a 70g green bean mooncake has about 260 calories, she said.
People often drink beverages when they eat the pastries, but sweet beverages can add even more calories, she said.
Chuang said that people should be mindful of three important principles for a healthier diet during the holiday: substituting rice with mooncake; preparing barbecue sauces with less oil, sugar, sodium and cholesterol, and adding more vegetables to the grill; and having two servings of fruit per day.
She said that because the calories from one-seventh of a 200g Cantonese mooncake contains the same calories as about half a bowl of cooked rice, people should eat no more than a quarter of a mooncake per day, and can replace rice in meals with mooncake.
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