The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions said children should be dissuaded from eating a spicy jelly-like snack from China that has become big hit among elementary-school students.
An elementary-school teacher recently wrote on Facebook that the savory “Konjac Shuang” snack from China contains extremely high levels of sodium and several additives, and that eating too much of it could adversely affect children’s health.
While some teachers are discouraging consumption of the snack, some students have taken to eating it secretly in the toilets, the teacher wrote, urging schools and parents to do more to stop students from eating it.
Photo: CNA
Konjac is a low-carb, high-fiber root vegetable often used to make a type of flour, and it is considered a health food.
However, clinic director Wang Chieh-li (王介立) wrote on Facebook that Konjac Shuang is a highly processed product that is high in fat and contains more than 1g of sodium for each 100g serving.
Federation president Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) on Monday said that if teachers have nutrition and health concerns about some foods, they can explain their adverse health effects to students.
There is no need to worry if students occasionally try new snacks, but if they eat too much or the foods are harmful to their health, schools and teachers should take measures to restrict consumption, Hou said.
Yen Tzung-hai (顏宗海), an attending physician at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Nephrology, said the product’s 1g of sodium per 100g serving approaches the daily recommended limit for children.
The recommended daily sodium intake for children aged one to three is 1.2g, increasing to 1.5g for those aged four to eight, 1.8g for those aged nine to 13 and 2.3g for those aged 14 to 18, Yen said.
Ingesting too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease, Yen said, adding that a small pack of Konjac Shuang contains more than 200mg of sodium.
Food and Drug Administration data showed that 515,483kg of Konjac Shuang was imported from China from Jan. 1 last year to Oct. 31.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its