More than half of the randomly inspected soy sauce products failed a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling inspection and five failed safety inspections because they contained too much preservative, officials said yesterday.
The FDA said that in September and October it randomly collected samples of 78 soy sauce products produced by 40 companies to inspect their labels and additives, as well as the manufacturers’ factory hygiene and food facilities registration.
The inspection found 57 products had labeling problems, and five had more than the legal amount of preservatives, including one — Aged Soy Sauce Paste (陳年壺底油膏) by Hsin Ren Cheng Soy Sauce Factory (新仁成醬油廠) in Changhua County — which contained twice the legal limit of parabens, which are used to limit bacteria growth.
“The food additives detected in the items are legal, but they used too much, breaching Article 18 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), and may face a fine between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$940 and US$940,038),” FDA Southern Center interim director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) said.
“Excess preservatives could stimulate the gastrointestinal tract or cause nausea and vomiting,” he said.
Most of five sauces with excess preservatives were purchased by breakfast shops or small restaurants, and the local health departments have asked the companies to recall the products, he said.
The FDA said local health departments have fined the companies manufacturing the five items a total of NT$210,000.
Liu said 75 percent of the manufacturers failed hygiene inspections, but later passed follow-up inspections, he said.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS