The latest health scare involving the massive use of a chemical, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), in bottled food and drinks has triggered concern among domestic food and beverage manufacturers that their image at home and abroad might be undermined by the incident.
Initial investigations show that the tainted ingredients and products were either produced by Yu Shen Chemical Co or came from the company’s suppliers.
The incident has so far embroiled nearly 170 upstream and midstream suppliers and manufacturers, including several famous brands, which have been busy recalling or changing the recipes for their products to protect their reputation and business.
In Yunlin County, the government has ordered cooperative stores at 50 elementary and junior high schools to temporarily suspend the sale of sports drinks and juice pending final examination results.
The National Sports Training Center in Greater Kaohsiung has also stopped selling sports drinks.
The concern has spread to the general public and businesses are worried that their hard-won reputations might be destroyed overnight.
Chen Mei-yen (陳美燕), general manager of Presotea (鮮茶道), a popular tea drink chain with more than 160 shops nationwide, said the company had recalled 7.4 tonnes of products allegedly tainted by DEHP after learning of the incident on Monday.
All recalled products will be destroyed, Chen said.
She said the tea house chain used a concentrated jelly from one ISO-certified supplier for making juice, but vowed that the company would only use fresh fruit in the future.
Presotea spokesman Chen Shien-chieh (鄭仙玠) said that although specially prescribed juice was not their key drink item, business had shrunk by an average of 20 percent over the last three days.
Possmei Corp, which exports raw materials and ingredients for Taiwan’s famous bubble milk tea to a tea shop in London, said eight ingredients that the company purchased from upstream suppliers were discovered to contain DEHP, but not the materials that were provided to the London shop.
Two children’s health food products under the Taiwan branch of Cerebos Pacific have also been found to contain DEHP, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The contaminated products — a calcium supplement and a multivitamin tablet for children — were immediately pulled from store shelves after the chemical was detected, the company said.
Cerebos Taiwan said the two products were manufactured by a local maker, Prince Pharmaceutical Co, which purchased its ingredients from Yu Shen Chemical.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS