Tests reveal that aluminum cookware for sale in Taipei easily emits heavy metals under certain conditions, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health said yesterday.
It tested 70 pots purchased locally and found that 80 percent emitted heavy metals in amounts exceeding EU standards.
Taiwan has not yet mandated a standard for emissions of heavy metals from cookware, the agency said.
Linkou Chang Geng Memorial Hospital internist Yan Tsung-hai (顏宗海) said that excess heavy metal consumption is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, adding that it also damages the liver and kidneys.
“We advise city residents to use only low temperatures to cook with aluminum cookware,” Taipei Food and Drug Division Director Chiu Hsiu-yi (邱秀儀) said, adding that aluminum pans are most likely to emit heavy metal when cooking highly acidic foods at high temperatures.
Although typical meals are not as acidic as the vinegar used in department tests, the public is still advised to use stainless steel pots and pans for common dishes such as hot-and-sour soup, she said.
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
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