The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday suspended imports of all flavors of gummies made at Haribo’s factories in Germany, following reports of cannabis contamination in a batch sold in the Netherlands.
Taiwan would keep the suspension in place until Haribo clarifies the circumstances surrounding the reported contamination, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
A BBC report on Thursday said it was unclear whether the tainted sweets found in the Netherlands were genuine or counterfeit.
Photo: Screen grab from Play Eat Easy’s Facebook page
The sweets are popular among children in Taiwan, and strict border controls were imposed to protect public health, as the products are not considered essential, Lin said.
The FDA yesterday confirmed that the contaminated batch had not been imported into Taiwan.
Haribo also has production lines in Turkey and other regions, but international reports suggest the issue is linked to the company’s factories in Germany, Lin said.
The FDA has not confirmed what proportion of Haribo gummies imported into Taiwan come from Germany.
The imports would only resume after concerns are clarified and risks ruled out, Lin said.
The incident has drawn public attention in Europe after several people in the Netherlands reported feeling unwell after consuming gummies from a 1kg pack of Haribo “Happy Cola F!ZZ,” the BBC report said.
A spokesperson from the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said that some people reported “dizziness” after eating the gummies, and that tests confirmed the presence of cannabis in samples, the BBC report said.
The specific cannabis substance and dosage involved remain unclear, but based on reported symptoms, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contamination is likely, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital Division of Nephrology physician Yen Tzung-hai (顏宗海) said.
THC could cause increased blood pressure and rapid heart rate in adults, which can raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, Yen said.
Children, whose brains are still developing, are particularly sensitive and could experience symptoms such as dizziness, drowsiness or irritability after ingesting THC, he added.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.