Consumers' Foundation conducts spot checks on rice and noodle products at traditional markets; nearly 14% illegally contain added bactericides and preservatives

General News Jan 1, 1970 0 views

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Be careful when buying wet rice and noodle products at traditional markets in summer! The Consumers' Foundation, Chinese Taipei (hereinafter referred to as the Consumers' Foundation) conducted spot checks on 80 rice and noodle products at traditional markets in the Taipei and New Taipei areas, Taichung, Nantou, Tainan and the Kaohsiung area between March and April this year (2019), and released the test results today (the 25th). Eleven samples failed the preservative test. Compared with the 6.5% failure rate in spot checks in previous years, the failure rate this time reached as high as 13.75%, showing that the illegal addition of bactericides and preservatives to rice and noodle products still needs improvement.

The Consumers' Foundation calls on private operators to be sure to refrigerate products after they are made and to adopt first-in, first-out practices to keep them fresh; consumers should pay attention to the production environment and storage conditions when purchasing rice and noodle products; and the government should strengthen inspections and food hygiene and safety education for food businesses.

Some of the non-compliant products (photo/Lin Yijun)

Street vendors are food businesses regulated under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and the Food and Drug Administration must act as gatekeeper

Hsu Tse-yu, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said that under Article 18 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, food additives must comply with legal regulations. If there is a violation, the competent authority may order the food business to suspend operations, stop sales and seal up ingredients. If the competent authority orders the food business to suspend operations and stop sales and there is no improvement by the deadline, a fine of 30,000 to 3,000,000 will be imposed according to the circumstances of the violation. If the circumstances are serious, the competent authority may also order it to suspend business temporarily or cease business for a period, revoke the company's or factory's registration matters, or revoke the food business's registration. A business whose registration has been revoked may not reapply within one year.

The targets of this investigation were vendors in traditional markets. They are small in scale, but they still count as food businesses under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. The test results were sent to the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Food and Drug Administration will notify the health bureaus of county and city governments in various places to conduct re-testing. Food businesses, regardless of scale, should not take chances. The Consumers' Foundation will act as gatekeeper for consumers at any time, and there should be no differential treatment based on scale.

Consumers' Foundation: reminds operators to take responsibility, calls on the government to inspect

Lei Li-fen, chairperson of the Consumers' Foundation, said that packaged products should all be labeled with ingredients. This spot check covered bulk products in traditional markets, and most operators are small in scale. The Consumers' Foundation does not want huge fines to become pressure on operators. It first called the non-compliant operators by phone in advance to ask whether they knew the source of the food. Among these 11 non-compliant operators, some make the products by hand. For the handmade portion, because materials can be adjusted, the circumstances of the violation will be more serious when inspected. The other portion involves buying ready-made materials. [We] remind [operators] that when buying ready-made materials, they must find out information about the upstream end, and they should take responsibility for the products they sell. At the same time, [we] remind the government that it should continue active inspections to prevent merchants from becoming lax.

Consumers' Foundation conducts spot checks on rice and noodle products at traditional markets; nearly 14% illegally contain added bactericides and preservatives

Street vendors are food businesses regulated under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and the Food and Drug Administration must act as gatekeeper

Consumers' Foundation: reminds operators to take responsibility, calls on the government to inspect

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