A well-known Taiwanese brand of peanut butter has been found to contain excessive amounts of aflatoxins, according to the results of mycotoxin tests on commercial food products released by Taipei’s Department of Health yesterday.
A sample of Hsinchu Fu Yuan peanut butter, one of 30 peanut food products randomly tested for mycotoxins, contained high amounts of aflatoxins — poisonous carcinogens and mutagens produced by certain molds, the department said.
The tests on the 30 products were conducted in late April and early May.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Health
The department found the peanut butter contained 4.3 micrograms per kilogram (ug/kg) of the aflatoxin B1, exceeding the 2ug/kg standard, and had 5ug/kg of combined B1, B2, G1, G2 aflatoxins, exceeding the maximum permissible level of 4ug/kg.
Two peanut powders also failed the inspection, the department said.
Fu Yuan apologized for the contaminated product in a statement yesterday, saying it believed the problem stemmed from its peanut supplier and that it had voluntarily recalled the flagged product.
It also pledged to cooperate with all investigations and inspections and strengthen its quality control to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Meanwhile in Taoyuan, one of Fu Yuan’s partner distributors also failed an inspection by the city’s Department of Public Health.
The Taoyuan department yesterday said it initiated an aflatoxins test on Fu Yuan’s peanut butter sold by Taoyuan’s Wang Lii Co after hearing from its Taipei counterpart.
Taipei notified Taoyuan in late May that Hsinchu Fu Yuan peanut butter sold at Carrefour with an expiration date of July 5 had tested positive for excessive aflatoxins.
While Taoyuan attempted to test a sample with a July 5 expiry date sold by Wang Lii, the company no longer had any product with that expiration date available.
A test was then initiated on another Fu Yuan peanut butter batch Wang Lii had in its stock with an Aug. 27 expiration date, and a sample from that batch also tested positive for excessive aflatoxin levels.
Taoyuan’s health department said it issued a correction order to Wang Lii as the aflatoxin results indicated that it had contravened the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Failure to make improvements could lead to a NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$1,013 to US$101,264) fine for the company, the department said.
The Taoyuan department said that after all flagged peanut butters were returned to Fu Yuan, another inspection of Wang Lii conducted on July 8 found that its peanut butter met the required standards.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS