Kaohsiung busts tainted industrial kelp that reached market vendors; whether it has spread across Taiwan, China is still under investigation

The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office received a report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare that a kelp (seaweed) producer was suspected of buying non-food-grade industrial additive "ammonium bicarbonate" from a food additive seller in Pingtung City. At the residence of the kelp producer, a couple surnamed Pan, prosecutors found 53 kg of industrial-grade "ammonium bicarbonate" and a batch of kelp that had been soaked and was ready for sale. The producer admitted to adding it. It is currently known that the chemically treated kelp has reached Kaohsiung street vendors; whether it has spread across Taiwan is still under a full investigation by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The couple surnamed Pan admitted to using the industrial-grade additive "ammonium bicarbonate" to wash kelp, and claimed that "all kelp in Taiwan is washed this way," but other producers refuted this. Wei Chia Hsiang Food Factory, a kelp producer in Taichung City, said that normal kelp can legally be treated with food-grade ammonium bicarbonate, the purpose being to wash the kelp and make it expand and become soft and springy; industrial-grade ammonium bicarbonate is half the price of food-grade. But factory head Tsai Chien-an said that in the past there had indeed been reports of some producers using industrial-grade product to save costs, but not all manufacturers do so. They routinely send their kelp for testing themselves, and they hope consumers will not worry too much.

Yesterday, prosecutors, police and health bureau investigators followed the trail to the Fengshan District address where the chemical raw materials were received. The empty additive bags placed at the production site were all food-grade ammonium alum, and beside them were several buckets of white powder; at first glance nothing seemed abnormal. However, ammonium alum should be colorless and odorless, yet the site was filled with an ammonia smell. After investigators searched, they found inside one bag an inner liner labeled as 53 kg of industrial-grade ammonium bicarbonate, which was sealed on the spot. They also found that the producer had actually hidden a large quantity of chemical raw materials at a residence in Dashu District.