The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday charged Dong Feng Food with using industrial materials in two of its food products.
Prosecutors said two company representatives, a woman surnamed Chu (朱) and a man surnamed Yang (楊), have been charged after industrial-grade calcium oxide was found in the company’s winter melon-punch cubes (冬瓜糖磚) and sugar products.
Prosecutors said industrial-grade calcium oxide is not certified by the Food and Drug Administration as a safe food additive and its use is a violation of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Photo provided by the Food and Drug Administration
Dong Feng also faces fines of up to NT$14.86 million (US$478,799), prosecutors said.
Food producers add food-grade calcium oxide to make products solidify faster, the Kaohsiung City Government’s Department of Health said, adding that it costs about NT$1,000 per kilogram.
Dong Feng used a cheaper industrial-grade calcium oxide which costs less than NT$100 per kilogram, the department said.
The department said it received an anonymous tip-off last year that Dong Feng was using industrial-grade materials in its food products at a factory in Kaohsiung’s Renwu District (仁武).
The city’s Economic Development Bureau said that the company’s Renwu factory was an unregistered facility operating illegally. The department notified prosecutors, who initiated an investigation on Oct. 26 last year.
The investigation report released on Jan. 13 said that the company’s melon-punch cubes, which weighed about 250g, contained 763.9mg of industrial-grade calcium oxide. The product would normally contain about 92.9mg of naturally occurring calcium oxide.
Long-term consumption of industrial-grade calcium oxide in such large amounts would damage a person’s stomach, intestines and kidneys, the department said.
Investigators seized more than 13 tonnes of melon-punch cubes from the factory and recalled 2.5 tonnes of the product from vendors in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung.
Investigators said the company’s melon-punch cubes were used at many beverage shops throughout the three counties, including Boba Tea (丸作食茶), adding that they seized about 2 tonnes of finished products from various retailers.
Boba Tea business department manager Lee Yu-chiao (李宇喬) said that all Boba locations took Dong Feng’s products off their shelves on the day of the notice, adding that they have since switched suppliers for their melon-punch cube ingredients.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost