Using tea bags and spice pouches may produce good tea and tasty dishes, but people should use them with care to prevent harmful effects, the Consumer Protection Commission said yesterday.
The commission urged the Department of Health to amend regulatory standards for food and utensil packaging to protect public health.
A recent test of 30 items by the commission all met the “Sanitation Standards for Food and Utensil Packaging,” but the results were still worrisome because the regulatory standards do not take into account Taiwanese cooking habits, said Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學), a section chief at the commission.
Of the 30 items, 22 used plastic packaging and the other eight used paper.
The plastic packagings did not contain lead or cadmium solutes and their potassium permanganate levels of 1.1mg per liter to 7.9mg per liter were well within the legal limit of 10mg per liter, the commission said.
Neither were there traces of plasticizers, including Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP) and di-octyl phthalate (DOP) — in the packaging, it said.
The six chemicals were targeted because of the plasticizer scare that rattled the nation in May.
Current standards for plastic packaging stipulate that the packaging should not emit solutions containing lead or cadmium when cooked for 30 minutes at 95oC, nor plasticizers such as DEHP or DBP when cooked for an hour at 25oC.
The eight paper packaging products did not contain traces of optical brightening agents (OBA) or formaldehyde, the commission added.
Paper packaging regulations state that there should be no traces of OBA when the product is placed in liquid at or more than 95oC for more than 30 minutes.
However, the commission expressed concern over the fact that Taiwanese dishes are usually cooked over a matter of hours, which may result in elevated levels of the chemicals.
“We have already recommended that the Department of Health consider amending sanitation standards to take into account Taiwanese cooking habits,” Wu said.
The commission said it also found that the tags that come with tea bags or spice pouches are usually not labeled as part of the packaging. A casual test of the tags according to the standards of the Sanitation Standards for Food and Utensil Packaging yielded 11.7 parts per million (parts per million) of potassium permanganate, exceeding the legal amount.
Users of tea bags and coffee bags should avoid dropping or placing the tags in the water, the commission said.
The plastic packaging found in 22 of the 30 samples is a departure from the common expectation that spice pouches are wrapped in cloth or paper bags, the commission said, adding that it had recommended the department consider regulating material specification for foodstuff packaging being steeped or cooked at high temperatures.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
A mountain blaze that broke out yesterday morning in Yangmingshan National Park was put out after five hours, following multi agency efforts involving dozens of fire trucks and helicopter water drops. The fire might have been sparked by an air quality sensor operated by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, one of the national-level laboratories under the National Applied Research Laboratories, Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters said. The Taipei City Fire Department said the fire, which broke out at about 11am yesterday near the mountainous Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) Recreation Area was extinguished at 4:32pm. It had initially dispatched 72 personnel in four command vehicles, 16
RSS