A preliminary examination by the Taipei Department of Health of six types of dietary supplements imported and sold by Abbott Taiwan, which were removed from shelves earlier this month, found no abnormalities, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would continue to investigate.
The department on Sept. 7 issued a notice requesting that six products — Ensure (original flavor), Suplena, Nepro, Osmolite, Osmolite HN and Jevity — be removed from shelves within 48 hours after the company received 629 complaints in eight months, with many consumers saying that the canned supplements had deteriorated before their expiration dates.
The department collected samples of the six products that week for testing.
The results showed no abnormalities, nor caking or deterioration of powders, Food and Drug Division Director Wang Ming-li (王明理) said yesterday.
However, the department could not determine whether the products are safe based on the examination results alone, so the FDA is to further evaluate them before a final decision is made, Wang said.
The FDA has gathered documents from Abbott Taiwan on its product quality control, consumer complaints and related reports, Wang added.
The company imported about 37 million cans of the six products from January to last month, but as the department’s tests found no abnormalities, the 629 complaints could be random cases, FDA Northern Center official Wei Jen-ting (魏任廷) said.
However, as the number of complaints was still greater than the average over the past few years, a meeting with specialists would be held to discern the nature of the problem, Wei said, adding that the meeting’s conclusions would be announced in a few days.
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