A random testing of food products popular among children conducted by Taipei’s Department of Health found that none of the products contained excessive levels of additives.
The department last month tested 45 products purchased from stores near elementary schools and tourist-oriented “old streets.” They covered 15 assorted candies, 10 dried seafood snacks, five kinds of preserved fruit, five bakery products, five carbonated beverages and five juice drinks.
Some of the products were produced domestically, while others were imported from countries including Japan, India and Thailand.
“The products were tested for preservatives, coloring agents and sweeteners, and all the results conformed to the Standards for Specification, Scope, Application and Limitation of Food Additives (食品添加物使用範圍及限量暨規格標準),” Wang Ming-li (王明理), director of the department’s Food and Drug Division, told a news conference in Taipei.
However, five of the 36 packaged snacks did not conform with package labeling requirements, Wang said, adding that four of the products were locally manufactured and one was imported from Thailand.
Four of the products did not include the type of coloring agents used, Wang said. They were a package of braised, dried and sliced fish (紅燒魚片) from supermarket chain Simple Mart (美廉社), chocolate beans purchased in the city’s Datong District (大同), a dried mango product from Thailand and candied kumquat sold at a store in Xinyi District (信義).
One Changhua County-made dried fish snack was also found lacking, because it did not include the name and contact information of its manufacturer, nor its place of origin, Wang said.
Moreover, the label stated only that the product was “fresh for 365 days,” but did not give an expiration date.
Manufacturers of the deficient products face fines ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$956 to US$95,602), and are prohibited from selling the items until improvements are made, Wang added.
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