Spice sachets and soap plants repeatedly mixed into edible herbal teas, pesticide residues a serious concern
Chengjian Company purchased non-food-grade flowers and herbs that flowed into edible tea bags and plant essence beverages, affecting 80 products and well-known brands. Yesterday the Miaoli County Health Bureau followed the trail upstream to He Rong Company and Yongsheng Tang Trading Company, and found that the 6047 kg of flower and herb plants purchased by Chengjian were meant for making fragrances, sachets, soap and other products, and the invoices clearly bore the words "not edible," yet Chengjian purchased them for food processing. Because the pesticide testing standards for food-grade and non-food-grade items differ greatly - for example, flowers and herbs used for soap do not even need pesticide testing - the safety of using them to make edible flower and herb teas is worrying.
The problematic flower and herb raw materials may come from the same source as the direct-fire oolong rose tea that tested positive for DDT
The problematic flowers and herbs supplied to Chengjian this time came from Yongsheng Tang Trading Company and He Rong Food Company; among them, the non-edible rose petals that Yongsheng Tang Trading Company supplied in early May this year to "3:15" for use in direct-fire oolong rose tea tested positive for DDT, and upon investigation they also came from He Rong Company. Are the roses and other flowers and herbs that caused problems for Chengjian this time from the same batch as the source of the direct-fire oolong rose tea?
In response, the Miaoli County Health Bureau said "this possibility cannot be ruled out." Because Chengjian mentioned in the investigation transcript that it had been trading with He Rong for more than ten years, and since 102 (2013), there were trading records almost every month; the problematic products purchased by Chengjian this time were also bought in May and June of 103 (2014), so this possibility cannot be ruled out. However, the Health Bureau still said that because Chengjian's raw material records were not clearly kept, the details still depend on the prosecutors' investigation.
Flower and herb raw materials for fragrances and soap used to make tea: pesticide residue standards differ greatly
According to the Miaoli County Health Bureau's investigation, from January 102 (2013) to March 104 (2015), Chengjian Biotechnology Company purchased multiple kinds of flower and herb plants from He Rong Company and Yongsheng Tang Trading Company for food processing, including roses, osmanthus, jasmine, roselle, calendula, lemongrass, rosemary, lavender, chamomile, feverfew, large mint, European mint and verbena, among others.
Lin Yuzhen, section chief of the Food Section of the Miaoli County Health Bureau, said that this batch of flowers and herbs was originally intended for fragrances, sachets and soap, and when He Rong and Yongsheng Tang shipped them they clearly noted "not to be eaten," or indicated they were only for use as fragrances and sachets, and the font size was exactly the same as the product names and item descriptions, so it should not have been possible for people to "overlook" it.
Lin Yuzhen said that edible flowers, depending on the type, must comply with the regulations of the Council of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. For example, for edible dried roses, there are 10 regulated pesticides that may remain, and 32 types for which no standard needs to be set; as for non-food-grade flower raw materials, they must follow the regulations for the end product. If the end product is soap, Jian Suhua, section chief of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Section of the Miaoli County Health Bureau, said that because soap can be rinsed off, the central government currently has no regulations on pesticide residues in flower raw materials for soap.
Non-edible flowers flowing into food products keep emerging
Non-edible flowers flowing into edible tea bags is a problem that keeps emerging. In early May this year, the well-known brand "3:15" direct-fire oolong rose tea tested positive for the banned pesticide DDT, which was contract-manufactured by Shicheng Company, and it purchased non-food-grade rose petals upstream from He Rong Company and Yongsheng Tang Trading Company; He Rong Company's shipping note stated "flower herb plants for fragrance, not to be eaten," but Yongsheng Tang said they were edible.
How can non-edible flowers be prevented from flowing into the food industry? Qiu Xiuyi, director of the Central Region Management Center, said that currently imported edible flowers must be sampled and checked in accordance with Food and Drug Administration regulations, and all edible flower and herb raw materials are currently sampled batch by batch; domestic ones are checked by the Council of Agriculture.
According to regulations, if businesses want to use raw materials and additives in food, they must register on the "Non-registration is not allowed" system; unless a business maliciously evades registration and lets non-food-grade flowers flow into the food industry, which constitutes false registration and can be punished with a fine of 3 to 3 million.
Qiu Xiuyi said that in this incident, Chengjian Company had multiple products not registered in the system, and the details still await follow-up investigation by the Miaoli County Health Bureau; she said that the "Non-registration is not allowed" system has already been made mandatory for registration, but businesses still need time to complete registration.
At present, the entire case has been handed over to the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office, the Miaoli Investigation Station and the Miaoli County Health Bureau for follow-up investigation. It has been confirmed that the products removed from shelves are "Black Jujube Essence Beverage (fiber-added, sugar-free)" contract-manufactured by Runquan International Enterprise Co., Ltd., 25347 bottles, and "Rose Jujube Essence Beverage," 601 bottles.
The Food and Drug Administration called on the public that using non-edible flower and herb raw materials is suspected of violating Article 15 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and according to law may be punished with imprisonment of not more than 7 years, and in addition a fine of not more than 80 million may be imposed; products shall be confiscated and destroyed in accordance with Article 52 of the same Act. For products involving false labeling and illegal advertising, a fine of 40,000 to 4 million shall be imposed in accordance with Article 28 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and, pursuant to Article 45 of the same Act.