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FOOD SCARE WIDENS:
¡¥D-Day¡¦ set to prove goods DEHP-free
CRYSTAL CLEAR: Companies have to provide
certificates that prove their goods do not contain six specified chemicals or
they face having their products banned
By Mo Yan-chih / Staff Reporter, with CNA
Kang Ching-yun, deputy director
of Taoyuan County¡¦s Department of Health, places the department¡¦s seal on a
pallet of sports drinks being confiscated from Uni-President Enterprise Corp¡¦s
Yangmei plant yesterday.
Photo: Shen Chi-chang, Taipei Times
Beginning on Tuesday five major categories
of food and beverages, including sports drinks, must prove that they are free of
six designated chemicals, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
Amid a nationwide scare over food and drinks contaminated by the chemical
di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta
(ªô¤å¹F) announced that Tuesday has been set as ¡§D-day¡¨ to end the practice of
adding any of the six specified chemicals to clouding agents.
¡§If clouding agents are used in a product in the five foodstuff categories ¡X
sports drinks, juice, teas, fruit jam or syrups, tablets or powders ¡X they must
provide safety certificates to prove that they are free of the six plasticizers.
If they fail to do so, the products will be banned,¡¨ Chiu said.
A clouding agent is a legal food additive commonly used in products such as
fruit jelly, yogurt powder mix, juice and other drinks to keep the emulsions
evenly dispersed and to make the products more visually appealing to customers.
Manufacturers found producing or selling clouding agents that contain any of the
six chemicals, including DEHP, will be heavily penalized, with the fines based
on the ¡§one case, one penalty¡¨ principle, Chiu said.
Food and beverage companies should always be careful with their selection of raw
materials and pleading ignorance is no excuse, he added.
¡§These companies should shoulder their social responsibility and make the public
interest their primary concern,¡¨ he said, adding that ¡§they might suffer some
economic losses, but they would regain the public¡¦s trust.¡¨
Food and Drug Administration Director-General Kang Jaw-jou (±d·Ó¬w) said the six
chemicals his agency is targeting are DEHP, DINP, DNOP, DIDP, DBP and BBP.
He urged distributors to recall all food and beverages that contain clouding
agents and to return them to store shelves only after safety certificates had
been provided.
At a separate setting yesterday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (°qÀsÙy) said free
product testing for DEHP at the city¡¦s 12 district health service centers would
not be limited to Taipei residents and he promised to provide the service to all
of the nation¡¦s consumers.
Hau promised to extend the service after a visit to the health department¡¦s
laboratory in Shipai (¥ÛµP), which has received more than 300 products from
worried customers since it started offering free testing on Thursday.
¡§Our top priority is to assuage people¡¦s fears about food and beverage products,
and we urged manufactures and importers to take the initiative to inform
consumers about any items that are contaminated with DEHP,¡¨ he said.
The testing service, which is available from 10am to 4pm until Friday at
Taipei¡¦s 12 district health service centers and will also be available at Taipei
City Hall service center from June 7 to 10, was originally limited to Taipei
residents.
A customer surnamed Huang from Taoyuan County visited the department¡¦s lab
yesterday carrying a box of a Lactobacillus product that his two-year-old child
had been eating for more than a year.
¡§I think every local government should offer such a service for local residents
so we don¡¦t have to come all the way to Taipei,¡¨ he said.
Chiu Chi-sheng (ªô§Óª@), director of the laboratory, said it took about four hours
to process an item and the lab is equipped to handle about 50 products a day.
He said the laboratory would seek support from medical schools and Taipei City
Hospital to handle the heavy workload.
Chiu said consumers could only ask for one item to be examined and should
present valid ID for registration. The lab only accepts items in certain
categories, such as sports drinks, juices, teas, syrups and jams.
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