China's premier beer brand, Tsingtao Beer, said yesterday that it does not contain methanol in the brewing process, refuting a Liberty Times report that many China-produced beer brands reportedly contain the cancer-causing chemical.
"Tsingtao has not added methanol to its beer for many decades," said Peter Tsai (蔡清富), deputy general manager of the company that distributes Tsingtao in Taiwan, the Taiwan Tsing Beer Corp (台灣青啤).
Tsai was responding to recent reports that Shenzhen-based Jinwei Beer Co (金威啤酒) claims to be the first Chinese brewery to not use methanol.
Methanol is a colorless, toxic, flammable liquid that can be used as an antifreeze, a general solvent, a fuel or a denaturant for ethyl alcohol. Medical studies show that continued consumption of methanol-containing alcohol is harmful to human health.
Tsai said Jinwei's claim is simply outrageous because it implies that most other Chinese beer brands use the chemical in the beer-brewing process.
Jinwei's claim has caused concern among local health authorities and consumers as China-brewed beer has enjoyed increasing popularity, where drinkers consume about 550,000 tonnes of beer a year.
Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (
"Our beer meets world standards of quality," said Morgan Hwang (黃營杉), chairman of Taiwan Tobacco. "We have never added that cancer-causing substance [meth-anol] to our product."
The Consumers' Foundation (
"If any Chinese beer is found of containing the banned substance, it should be pulled from shelves right away and the distributor of the beer should be held responsible for possible health damage," said Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏), secretary-general of the foundation.
In response, health authorities said they will look into China's beer inspection procedures and standards. In addition, the Ministry of Finance said it will check whether Chinese beer contains any methanol.
Tsingtao Beer and rival Beijing-based Yanjing Beer entered Taiwan's market last year following termination of the nation's alcohol-production monopoly held by the state-controlled Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Board (菸酒公賣局).
Tsingtao captured nearly 8 percent of the market last year and is expected to take 12 percent market share this year, Tsia said. But it remains to be seen whether the methanol report would affect Tsingtao's sales, he added.
Currently, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp has about 74 percent of the domestic beer market with its Taiwan Beer brand. The company hopes to increase the beer's market share to 80 percent this year, Hwang told the Taipei Times in early May.
Taisan Enterprise Co (
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in