The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday announced stricter regulations on toxic heavy metals in foods, lowering the maximum limits for lead in infant formulas and in the internal organs of livestock and poultry, while adding limits on chromium in baby food products, nuts and oil seeds, which are to take effect on Monday.
The maximum level of lead allowed in powdered infant formulas would be lowered from 0.05 parts per million (ppm) to 0.02ppm, while the limit in liquid infant formulas would fall from 0.03ppm to 0ppm.
The maximum level of lead allowed in the organs of livestock and poultry would be lowered from 0.5ppm to 0.2ppm for cattle and lamb, 0.5ppm to 0.15ppm for pork, and 0.5ppm to 0.1ppm for poultry.
Photo: CNA
A new maximum limit for chromium in powdered infant formulas and liquid formulas would be 0.02ppm.
The chromium limit for pine nuts would be 0.3ppm, and 0.2ppm for other types of nuts, while it would be 0.15ppm for rapeseed, 0.15ppm for canola, 0.5ppm for flaxseed and sunflower seeds, and 0.1ppm for other types of oil seeds (such as sesame).
FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said that all products sold in the market must meet the new standards, not only the ones manufactured from Monday.
The new limits were set after referencing standards in other countries as well as reviewing risk assessment data, Lin said, adding that the draft amendment to the Sanitation Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food (食品中污染物質及毒素衛生標準) had been announced on March 28.
The limits in baby foods need to be stricter as exposure to heavy metals can be especially harmful to infants, posing risks of developing neurological and developmental impairments, which could have life-long effects, he said.
As Taiwanese often eat nuts, oil seeds, and the internal organs of livestock and poultry, limits were tightened or added, he said.
The limits would apply to border inspections, and the agency would work with local health departments to review them during routine market inspections, he said.
Imported food items that fail border inspections would be returned or destroyed, and companies that fail inspections but do not improve within a given time period could be fined NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$921.55 and US$92,155), the FDA said.
Regarding chocolate — which was included in the March draft, but not in the final version — Lin said that during the 60-day public comment period, the agency received an opinion from an expert saying that the Codex Alimentarius has a more comprehensive standard for regulating heavy metal in chocolate.
The FDA is gathering opinions and drafting more comprehensive standards for chocolate, which would be announced in two or three months, and a final version could go into effect in January next year, he said.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers. Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board. The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff. Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm. Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized. A different
China might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “increasingly bellicose actions” toward Taiwan have heightened concerns that Beijing would use its military against Taiwan, it said, citing a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. “A quarantine [is] a law enforcement-led operation to control
A new message broadcast on the Taipei MRT’s Wenhu (Brown) Line urging passengers to yield their seats to those in need, not necessarily elderly people, would be extended to other MRT lines and public transportation in the capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday. Chiang was responding to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a news conference at Taipei City Hall promoting healthy walking. Several disputes over priority seats on public transportation have recently been reported, sparking debate about who qualifies to sit in them, as most of the cases involved elderly people asking young people to give up their