The Ministry of Health and Welfare is rolling out a list of high-risk products to be monitored when imported, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday.
Hsueh made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.
The meeting was held to address the recall of several food products that used a chili powder from China containing Sudan III, a carcinogenic industrial dye that is banned from use in food products in Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung Department of Health
Bao Hsin Enterprises Co (保欣企業), the company that imported the chili powder, is to be fined NT$2 million (US$63,432) for failing to immediately inform downstream companies that they should recall products, the New Taipei City Government said on Sunday.
Investigators found that Bao Hsin, a raw food material supplier based in New Taipei City, imported chili powder containing Sudan III and supplied it to food companies across the nation.
An investigation found that even though some of the companies it supplied told Bao Hsin that its imported chili powder was substandard — prior to the incident becoming national news — it did not immediately tell other downstream distributors to initiate a product recall, the New Taipei City Department of Health said in a statement.
Bao Hsin not only affected its own reputation, but also implicated other brands, the department said, adding that the company neglected its responsibilities as a food supplier.
As a result, the city government would fine the company for contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), the department said.
“Upon discovery that food products may be harmful to sanitation and safety, the food businesses shall immediately cease manufacturing, processing, sale and recall such products voluntarily and report to the municipal or county/city competent authority,” the act says.
The case came to light on Feb. 8 when the Yunlin County Public Health Bureau reported that in late January it found that the red chili powder used by a company in its jurisdiction contained 18 parts per billion of Sudan III.
Food and Drug Administration Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) on Feb. 21 announced that the source of the affected chili powder had been traced back to Bao Hsin.
Sudan dyes are a group of industrial dyes consisting of several red colors — including Sudan I, II, III, and IV — which are listed as toxic chemical substances by the Ministry of Environment’s Chemicals Administration.
Bao Hsin head Liu Ching-shih (劉慶士) was taken into custody on Saturday after being taken in for questioning with four members of the company’s management, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Four other people were released, while Liu is being held incommunicado as he is suspected of having engaged in fraud and could therefore try to collude, tamper with witness testimony or destroy evidence if released, the office said.
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