A survey by the Consumers’ Foundation found none of 28 laundry products it had purchased at nine self-service laundromats met labelling requirements, raising concerns over their quality.
The foundation conducted a random survey on laundry detergents sold at nine laundromats in Greater Taipei on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31.
All of the 28 items inspected, which included washing powders, detergents, fabric softeners, sanitizers and anti-static dryer sheets, and sold at NT$10 per box or sachet, failed to meet legal labeling requirements.
“The manufacturers neglected to include some label contents required by law,” foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said. “The required information includes the company’s information, manufacturing location, expiration date, ingredients and volume.”
The survey found that 22 items did not have the manufacturer’s information and location printed on the package label, 26 items did not disclose ingredients, 24 items bore no volume description and all 28 items lacked an expiration date.
“These products all failed to include the legally required label contents and should not be allowed to be sold on the market,” Yu said.
He said authorities could impose fines of NT$20,000 to NT$200,000 if the companies do not correct the labels, in accordance with the Commodity Labeling Act (商品標示法).
Deputy head of inspection Mai Fu-der (麥富德) said fabric softeners can contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health, such as synthetic benzyl acetate, which has a jasmine smell and can irritate the respiratory tract, and benzyl alcohol, which can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and light-headedness.
Most of the items inspected in the survey did not carry and ingredient list, so consumers could not know what chemicals they contained, Mai said, adding that the testers also found stained packages, but could not tell if the products had expired because they did not display expiration dates.
The foundation urged the government to produce guidelines for the manufacturers to follow.
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