Carefully check the labels of Halloween candies for potential allergens when trick-or-treating on Thursday next week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Warnings in Mandarin must be displayed on the outer packaging of any packaged food product that contains any of the 11 ingredients that might trigger an allergic reaction, FDA Food Safety Division Deputy Director Shiau Huei-wen (蕭惠文) told a news conference in Taipei.
The 11 ingredients are crustaceans, sesame, cow milk, goat milk, fish, mango, eggs, gluten, peanuts, nuts and soybeans, Shiau said.
Photo: CNA
If a product uses sulfite additives during production and contains sulfur dioxide residues exceeding 10mg per kilogram, it must also have an allergen label, she added.
Asked what people who cannot read Chinese should do being unable to understand labeling, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said that they should check the outer packaging of food products, as it might include labels in foreign languages or images of allergens.
Meanwhile, Anny Hou (侯沂錚), a dietitian at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, said that added sugar intake should not exceed 10 percent of a person’s total daily caloric intake.
If a child aged four to six consumes about 1,800 calories per day, then the recommended added sugar limit for them should be about 180 calories, equivalent to nine sugar cubes, she said.
Separately, Lin said that the FDA has reviewed all online shopping platforms in Taiwan and ordered them to stop selling “wax candy” products from China.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) previously said that “wax candy” — candies with an outer layer of wax wrapped around jam or syrup — raised food safety concerns.
She urged consumers to exercise caution before purchasing the products, as it remains uncertain whether they contain illegal additives.
Lin Chin-fu said that over the past three years, “not a single wax candy product from China has undergone customs declaration and inspection at Taiwan’s borders,” indicating that all such products in Taiwan have been imported illegally.
The FDA’s regulations do not apply to “wax candy” products purchased on foreign platforms such as Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) through parallel imports for personal use, Lin Chin-fu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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