A Taipei Department of Health inspection of melamine tableware used at five hot-pot chain stores showed that six of the nine items leached melamine into the food, with two items exceeding legally acceptable maximum limits.
The department conducted a random survey of nine melamine tableware used at five popular hot-pot chains, and six were found to leach, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors Wang Wei-chung (王威中) and Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) said.
“To test them for heat resistance, the health department placed them in hot water for 30 minutes — although most people usually take two to three times longer to finish a hot-pot meal,” Wang said.
“The melamine chopsticks came with labels advising users not to ‘wash them using scouring pads,’ but we do not know how these chopsticks are washed at hot-pot stores,” Wang said.
Wang said they hoped the department could use stricter testing standards to ensure that people are not taking in toxic substances when they eat at hot-pot restaurants.
The department said that the nine items tested between 80.7oC and 89.9oC for heat resistance — lower than the maximum tolerable level suggested for dishwashers (about 110oC to 130oC). Moreover, six of them leached melamine, with concentration levels ranging from 0.9 to 5.4 parts per million (ppm).
The acceptable maximum level of melamine dissolved from melamine tableware is 2.5ppm.
Food and Drug Division Director Wang Ming-li (王明理) said that the two restaurants found using poor melamine tableware have changed their tableware on a second review.
“We will advise companies [restaurants] to stop using melamine chopsticks,” she said.
However, the WHO does not recognize melamine as a toxic substance that cannot be used for tableware, because it can be discharged through urination within 24 to 48 hours, and the department cannot force the companies to stop using them, she said.
The department urged hot-pot restaurants to refrain from or stop using melamine dishware, replace tableware that are damaged or scratched with new ones, and provide stainless steel tongs for people to put meat into hot pots.
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