Consumers' Foundation inspects rice and wheat flour products at traditional markets; nearly 14% illegally contain preservatives

Be careful when buying wet rice and wheat flour products at traditional markets in summer! The Consumers' Foundation, Chinese Taipei (hereinafter referred to as the Consumers' Foundation) conducted inspections of rice and wheat flour products at traditional markets in the Taipei-Keelung area, Taichung, Nantou, Tainan and Kaohsiung between March and April of this year (2019), sampling 80 items, and released the test results today (the 25th). Eleven samples failed the preservative test. Compared with the 6.5% failure rate in previous years' inspections, this time the failure rate reached as high as 13.75%, showing that the practice of adding preservatives to rice and wheat flour products still needs improvement.

The Consumers' Foundation urges private operators to always refrigerate products after production and to adopt a first-in, first-out approach to keep them fresh; consumers should pay attention to the production environment and storage conditions when purchasing rice and wheat flour products; and the government should strengthen inspections and food hygiene and safety education for food businesses.