After the tainted dried tofu incident, the Food and Drug Administration expanded its investigation into the defoamer ingredients of other manufacturers
In light of the fact that the source of this outbreak of tainted dried tofu products was the bean emulsifier and antifoaming agent from Qianxin in Tainan City, and that Qianxin filed false information on the food registration platform, concealing the illegal addition of dimethyl yellow, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare has instructed local health bureaus to carry out inspections of other additive businesses registered on the food registration platform as selling bean antifoaming agents and emulsifiers.
Acting FDA Director-General Jiang Yumei said that at present there are a total of six businesses with bean antifoaming agent products registered on the food platform, namely Longyi Trading Company's Yuanhong bean product antifoaming agent, Kao (Taiwan) bean antifoaming agent, Zhenfang bean antifoaming agent, Qihong compound bean product antifoaming agent, and Taiwan Doulian International antifoaming agent. The FDA has instructed local health bureaus to inspect the raw materials and manufacturing processes of the bean antifoaming agents and emulsifiers produced by these registered businesses. Apart from Qianxin, no other business has so far been found to have committed any illegal acts.
Jiang Yumei stressed that bean antifoaming agents are not in themselves illegal, but it is illegal for the Qianxin company to add oil-based yellow powder to bean antifoaming agents and emulsifiers. In response to outside criticism that the food registration platform had failed, Jiang Yumei argued that the reason this case was able to quickly trace the illegal addition of dimethyl yellow to Qianxin's bean emulsifiers and antifoaming agents was precisely that the information built up by the registration system had the advantages of being "fast, accurate and easy to search," which made it possible to immediately grasp information on the incident and carry out trace-back sampling and testing of the relevant raw materials, and thus to discover the illegal addition at the source at an early stage.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Ping-huang, when taking questions in the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee of the Legislative Yuan this morning, said that in the past the inspection items for illegal addition of dimethyl yellow to food were mainly candy, oil noodles and pickled vegetables, and indeed bean products had been overlooked. After this incident, dimethyl yellow will be listed as one of the routine inspection items for bean products.
Full list of bean products using emulsifiers illegally (published 20141218)
List of illegal products added on 1218
