Germany yesterday announced a ban on a jelling agent, konjac, which has been used in billions of sweets for children.
Konjac, also known as konnyaku, yam flour or glucomannan, is the key material in a childhood sensation known as Mini Fruit Jellys or Mini Fruit Cups that had to be pulled from shelves all over the EU and the US in January.
Served in tiny plastic cups that imitate grown-ups' ready-to-eat meals, the Taiwanese-made sweet is sucked into the mouth to be chewed slowly. However small children were at risk of choking if they swallowed the gel too early.
German Health Minister Renate Kuenast said she had decided to extend the ban from the product to all use of konjac as an ingredient. Sources said EU officials had agreed to a request from Berlin for konjac to be banned soon throughout western Europe.
The German ban is to take effect on Wednesday.
The US Food and Drug Administration said earlier this year there had been reports of four US children's deaths from choking associated with this type of jelly candy. Food safety experts spoke of up to eight deaths in Japan.
It is estimated that one Taiwanese company sold more than 3 billion pieces of the gel snacks.
In August of last year the popular jelly candy imported from Taiwan was pulled from US shelves of hundreds of supermarkets after it was blamed for the choking deaths of two children.
At that time two US grocery store chains -- Safeway and Albertson's -- announced that Jelly Yum brand candies and Fruit Poppers and Gelly Drop candies will be removed from its 2,500 stores nationwide, and bulk-goods store Costco ordered the candies off the shelves of more than 250 stores around the world, including 10 in Asia.
The candy is linked to the deaths of a 3-year-old an a 12-year-old last year in the US. In both cases, rescue workers said they couldn't dislodge the sticky gel from the children's throats.
The gel candies are individually packed in small, soft plastic cups and are sold in bulk in plastic jars.
The brightly colored candies have become popular over the last two years among American children after the treats met with success in Asia.
Health officials have warned the sweet gel does not readily dissolve in the mouth. Some jars carry a label warning that the candies are not safe for children under age 6, while others have said they are not safe for children under age 3.
At least a dozen deaths have been tied to the candy around the world. Most have been in Asia, where the candy originated in 1995. In Japan, the candy has gotten the nickname "deadly mouthful."
The Taichung County-based Sheng Hsiang Jen Foods Co (
"Whether it was a mini-fruity gel, a piece of meat, a hot dog, or any hard candy, the result could have been the same," a company statement on the matter said last year.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then