Plastic dinnerware imported from China by the Sukiya restaurant chain and the HaiDiLao hotpot chain has failed inspections, as it releases melamine at levels exceeding the tolerable limit, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The FDA yesterday released a list of 27 imported items that failed border inspections, which included food items, such as strawberries and shiso from Japan, ginseng from South Korea, tea and spices from India, pineapples from the Philippines, oysters from Vietnam, frozen boneless beef from Nicaragua, as well as food containers.
Seven types of plastic dinnerware containing melamine imported China were on the list, including bowls imported by Japanese restaurant chain Sukiya and plates imported by hotpot chain HaiDiLao.
Photo: CNA
The bowls released melamine up to 4.7 parts per million (ppm) in a migration test using 4 percent acetic acid as a solvent at 95°C for 30 minutes, exceeding the maximum tolerable limit of no more than 2.5ppm.
The plates released “residues after evaporation” up to 48ppm, exceeding the maximum tolerable limit of no more than 30ppm, in the same test.
The test is based on the Sanitation Standard for Food Utensils, Containers and Packages (食品器具容器包裝衛生標準).
FDA Northern Center head Chen Ching-yu (陳慶裕) said as several cases of dinnerware imported from China had failed previous border inspections, the center began conducting batch-by-batch inspections on Oct. 25.
He said the migration test using acetic acid is for testing the safety of the food containers when they are exposed to acidic food.
The items that failed the inspection would be either returned to their country of origin or destroyed, and the FDA would also inform local health departments, so that they can conduct further inspections if the items had previously been imported by local companies, Chen said.
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