The Taichung Health Bureau yesterday advised people to shun foodstuffs that it recently found were laced with excessive amounts of harmful substances.
The bureau last month conducted random testing on a total of 93 popular traditional Lunar New Year snacks and food products purchased from traditional markets, supermarkets and hypermarkets, including peanut brittle, corn, dried tofu, rice cake, steamed sponge cake and sausage.
The items were tested for residual aflatoxin, pesticides, preservatives, agricultural chemicals and color retention agents.
Of the products, eight failed the tests, including five dried tofu products from Yi Hsin Food Co (一心食品), which were found to contain food preservative benzoic acid at levels ranging from 1.6 to 3.26g per kilogram, far higher than the maximum permissible level of 0.6g per kilogram.
“People who consume benzoic acid over a long period of time may suffer from a wide range of ailments, including a loss of appetite, impaired liver function, stomach aches and vomiting,” the bureau said.
Also included in the list of defective products was a peanut-based product that was tainted with 75.52 parts per billion (ppb) of aflatoxin, far in excess of the maximum allowable level of 15ppb; one corn-based item, which had 0.09 parts per million of insecticide fenbutatin oxide; and one steamed sponge cake, which contained preservative dehydroacetic acid in a concentration of 0.483g per kilogram.
“Fenbutatin oxide and dehydroacetic acid residues are both banned in food products,” the bureau said.
Aflatoxin is highly toxic to the liver and long-term consumption of foods contaminated with the substance could lead to acute liver toxicity and even cancer, the bureau said.
As for fenbutatin oxide, excessive exposure to the acaricide could cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, it said, while long-term contact with high levels of dehydroacetic acid could result in kidney failure,
The bureau said the manufacturers of the contaminated products are to be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$960 and US$96,000) in accordance with Article 18 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Taichung Health Bureau Director Hsu Yung-nien (徐永年) advised the public to opt for food products that come with an intact package and are produced by a reputable company.
“Extra attention should also be paid to selected items’ nutrition labels to see if they contain all the required information,” Hsu said.
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