The week-long food scare continues to widen as health authorities yesterday said that some products made by Hong Shing Pharmaceutical (宏星製藥), a well-known manufacturer of medicinal and health supplements which has Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification, are suspected of containing contaminated clouding agents.
Department of Health officials said the latest round of investigations into manufacturers whose supply chain contains clouding agents manufactured by Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司), as well as companies that source their materials from Yu Shen, have found that Hong Shing’s lactic acid bacteria, a type of health supplement, is thought to contain clouding agents laced with the chemical di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP.
RESTRICTED
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
More than 400 boxes of the lactic acid bacteria made by Hong Shing have been sealed and stopped from being sold, said Feng Ren-lan (馮潤蘭), a deputy section chief at the Food and Drug Administration.
The department yesterday also conducted spot checks at clinics and pharmacies to see if all tainted products had been pulled off the shelves.
The operation was part of a broader move by the department to crack down on products tainted with DEHP.
Department officials said strawberry and grape-flavored syrup sold by Chuanlin Co to local pharmacies and clinics were found to be tainted with DEHP. The syrup was produced by a downstream firm of Yu Shen Chemical Co.
Clouding agents, legal food additives made from gum arabic, palm oil and emulsifier, are commonly used in fruit jelly, yogurt mix powder, juices and other beverages to keep emulsions evenly dispersed and enhance viscosity.
In the past few days, authorities discovered that Yu Shen and Pin Han Perfumery Co (賓漢香料公司), based in Tucheng District (土城), New Taipei City (新北市), were allegedly illegally adding chemicals to clouding agents.
TWO TYPES
While Yu Shen allegedly used DEHP, Pin Han was reported to have used the chemical diisononyl phthalate (DINP), which is similar to DEHP.
The department said both DINP and DEHP are legal when used in the manufacture of plastic products, but cannot legally be used in food additives.
The department on Friday required that all products containing clouding agents be pulled off the shelves. Manufacturers must prove to the government that their products are DEHP-free by today, before they will be allowed to put their products back on the market.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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