Clipping Board » Illness Enters through Mouth ─ The information that has been made public is often just the tip of the iceberg...
China Times Electronic News May 16, 2013 [Reported by Lin Jinchi, Qiu Wenxiu, Wang Tingyun, Qiu Liying]
Food products such as tapioca pearls and oden made from "toxic starch" containing maleic acid have been circulating across Taiwan, causing public panic. On the 15th, the New Taipei City Health Bureau fined the owner of Xieqi Starch Factory, surnamed Liu, NT$60,000 for violating the Food Sanitation Management Act. Within a week, the bureau will conduct a comprehensive inspection of the procurement and sales channels of 60 starch-related factories in the city.
The New Taipei City Health Bureau seized 2,590 kilograms of suspicious raw materials from Xieqi Starch Factory, an upstream supplier in Taishan District. Another company, Yihe Starch, had 2,000 kilograms of "Shuangwen Fine Powder" imported from Vietnam confiscated, which will be destroyed soon. The bureau also notified the Taipei City Health Bureau to investigate the company's registered location.
The owner of Xieqi Starch Factory, surnamed Liu, admitted to purchasing low-cost industrial modified starch of unknown origin and reselling it to downstream manufacturers for producing tapioca pearls, flat rice noodles, oden, and other food products. However, he could not clearly identify the source.
On the 15th, the Taipei City Health Bureau conducted a full-scale inspection of 15 major supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores in Taipei for six products, including boba pearls, that used illegal chemical-modified starch. Retailers were ordered to remove the implicated products from shelves and return them to suppliers, resulting in a total of 7,307 items being pulled.
Qiu Xiuyi, Director of the Taipei Food and Drug Administration, led a team to inspect six products at convenience stores and hypermarkets, including boba pearls, sweet potato pearls, Jiufen taro and sweet potato balls, Meinong flat rice noodles, oden, and frozen authentic oden. The team first inspected oden at a FamilyMart on Sanmin Road in Songshan District. The store owner stated that they had not restocked oden after selling out recently. Nearby Carrefour stores had already removed all implicated products.
The Yilan County Health Bureau mobilized inspectors to check 24 traditional markets, supermarkets, and hypermarkets in the area, resulting in 84 similar products being temporarily removed from shelves. Zhuang Shuzi, head of the Food and Drug Management Section, noted that 10 related products from the county were sent for testing, with results expected in a few days.
Pan Zhikuan, Director of the Regional Management Center of the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health, reported that as of 6 p.m. yesterday, a total of 32.7 metric tons of problematic raw materials and products had been sealed, an increase of 0.5 metric tons from the previous day.
In light of the recurring issue of unethical food practices in Taiwan, the Department of Health has proposed amendments to the Food Sanitation Management Act. In the future, food businesses and food additive manufacturers will be required to mandatorily register their products for sale, production, and import. Specifically, food additive manufacturers must register each product, whether single or compound formulations, individually.Source: http:/ / tw. news. yahoo. com/ % E6……32- 7% E5% 99% B8- 213000828. html;_ylt=AkDz5cSPLyORr8w_qvM_.fGVBdF_;_ylu=X3oDMTRqcGRhMXM5BG1pdANTZWN0aW9uTGlzdCBGUCBMaWZlc3R5bGUgTUQEcGtnAzE5YzNjZmIyLWY3MjktM2VjNS05MTg4LWQxNzlmYmJiMmZmZARwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFCTGlzdE1peGVkTFBDQVRlbXAEdmVyAzk4NmU5YzIyLWJkY2MtMTFlMi1hZTdlLTkwMDMwY2JlMzg4NA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFxZmE5djNsBGludGwDdHcEbGFuZwN6aC1oYW50LXR3BHBzdGFpZAMEcHN0Y2F0A.aWsOiBnummlumggQRwdANwbWg-;_ylv=3
Toxic Starch Seized: 32.7 Tons Confiscated
Food products such as tapioca pearls and oden made from "toxic starch" containing maleic acid have been circulating across Taiwan, causing public panic. On the 15th, the New Taipei City Health Bureau fined the owner of Xieqi Starch Factory, surnamed Liu, NT$60,000 for violating the Food Sanitation Management Act. Within a week, the bureau will conduct a comprehensive inspection of the procurement and sales channels of 60 starch-related factories in the city.
The New Taipei City Health Bureau seized 2,590 kilograms of suspicious raw materials from Xieqi Starch Factory, an upstream supplier in Taishan District. Another company, Yihe Starch, had 2,000 kilograms of "Shuangwen Fine Powder" imported from Vietnam confiscated, which will be destroyed soon. The bureau also notified the Taipei City Health Bureau to investigate the company's registered location.
The owner of Xieqi Starch Factory, surnamed Liu, admitted to purchasing low-cost industrial modified starch of unknown origin and reselling it to downstream manufacturers for producing tapioca pearls, flat rice noodles, oden, and other food products. However, he could not clearly identify the source.
On the 15th, the Taipei City Health Bureau conducted a full-scale inspection of 15 major supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores in Taipei for six products, including boba pearls, that used illegal chemical-modified starch. Retailers were ordered to remove the implicated products from shelves and return them to suppliers, resulting in a total of 7,307 items being pulled.
Qiu Xiuyi, Director of the Taipei Food and Drug Administration, led a team to inspect six products at convenience stores and hypermarkets, including boba pearls, sweet potato pearls, Jiufen taro and sweet potato balls, Meinong flat rice noodles, oden, and frozen authentic oden. The team first inspected oden at a FamilyMart on Sanmin Road in Songshan District. The store owner stated that they had not restocked oden after selling out recently. Nearby Carrefour stores had already removed all implicated products.
The Yilan County Health Bureau mobilized inspectors to check 24 traditional markets, supermarkets, and hypermarkets in the area, resulting in 84 similar products being temporarily removed from shelves. Zhuang Shuzi, head of the Food and Drug Management Section, noted that 10 related products from the county were sent for testing, with results expected in a few days.
Pan Zhikuan, Director of the Regional Management Center of the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health, reported that as of 6 p.m. yesterday, a total of 32.7 metric tons of problematic raw materials and products had been sealed, an increase of 0.5 metric tons from the previous day.
In light of the recurring issue of unethical food practices in Taiwan, the Department of Health has proposed amendments to the Food Sanitation Management Act. In the future, food businesses and food additive manufacturers will be required to mandatorily register their products for sale, production, and import. Specifically, food additive manufacturers must register each product, whether single or compound formulations, individually.Source: http:/ / tw. news. yahoo. com/ % E6……32- 7% E5% 99% B8- 213000828. html;_ylt=AkDz5cSPLyORr8w_qvM_.fGVBdF_;_ylu=X3oDMTRqcGRhMXM5BG1pdANTZWN0aW9uTGlzdCBGUCBMaWZlc3R5bGUgTUQEcGtnAzE5YzNjZmIyLWY3MjktM2VjNS05MTg4LWQxNzlmYmJiMmZmZARwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFCTGlzdE1peGVkTFBDQVRlbXAEdmVyAzk4NmU5YzIyLWJkY2MtMTFlMi1hZTdlLTkwMDMwY2JlMzg4NA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFxZmE5djNsBGludGwDdHcEbGFuZwN6aC1oYW50LXR3BHBzdGFpZAMEcHN0Y2F0A.aWsOiBnummlumggQRwdANwbWg-;_ylv=3