Taiwan, China's hot pot ingredients surprisingly have no heavy metal limit standards, while the EU even has them for laptops

The Taichung City Health Bureau recently released the "Mala Hot Pot Restaurant Group Food Ingredient Sampling Test Results" (Note 1), claiming that the 22 types of ingredients sampled from Ding Wang's group all met regulations. However, of the five types of table salt used in the group's restaurants, four tested positive for the heavy metals lead, arsenic and copper. Although the levels were below the salt hygiene standards of 2 ppm and 0.2 ppm and therefore not classified as "non-compliant," consumers learned for the first time that the national salt standard actually permits the presence of five heavy metals: arsenic, copper, lead, cadmium and mercury!

In early March, Ding Wang's broth and hot pot ingredients were also found by the Taichung City Health Bureau to contain lead, cadmium and mercury, but because our country has not set heavy metal limits for processed foods made by mixing multiple food ingredients, this was not deemed illegal and was judged to pass!

In fact, comparing the heavy metal levels detected in Ding Wang's hot pot ingredients with the heavy metal limits for rice, the levels in the abalone paste, squid balls, shrimp balls and crab roe cake all exceeded the standard by 1.6 to 3.9 times. Because the Health Bureau judged these heavy-metal-rich hot pot ingredients to be compliant, they will continue to enter the mouths of diners undaunted by the Ding Wang storm. We cannot help but worry that many consumers now visiting Ding Wang will go and spend money with peace of mind because the Health Bureau says Ding Wang's ingredients are compliant, yet unknowingly eat these hot pot ingredients containing high levels of heavy metals.

By contrast, in the EU, since 2002 the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive" (abbreviated in English as RoHS) (Note 2) has been enacted to protect human and environmental safety and health by limiting hazardous substance content. To date it bans large and small electronic products containing heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, hexavalent chromium and mercury, as well as other hazardous substances, from entering the EU market. Its scope of control covers everything from large and small household appliances to medical instruments, including: vacuum cleaners, laptops, televisions…etc. Yet Taiwan has not set heavy metal limit standards for processed foods made by mixing multiple food ingredients. This makes one lament: are Taiwanese lives worth less? Or does the government already know that our environment is long past cure, that our land and oceans can no longer supply safe food, and therefore "pragmatically" accepts that the people will ingest heavy metals.

The Ding Wang incident is like a demon-revealing mirror for food safety, reflecting the fact that domestic food safety regulations lag behind and cannot protect people's safety. In response, we hope the government will as soon as possible set heavy metal limit standards for processed foods made by mixing multiple food ingredients, and stop letting the people eat endless heavy metals meal after meal. In addition, we also call on consumers: food safety and environmental protection are closely linked. Without clean soil and water, there will be no reassuring produce. Eating is the end of the consumption chain; supporting environmentally friendly production methods, and even paying attention to moves such as the government possibly loosening soil heavy metal control standards, are all ways to ensure that you can eat with peace of mind in the future. (Hsu Hsin-hsin / Chief Secretary)

Note 1: On March 3, 2014, the Taichung City Health Bureau released the results of food ingredient testing for Ding Wang Mala Hot Pot. The test items included food additives, pesticides, veterinary drugs and heavy metals, with a total of 22 categories of samples. Among them, sweet potato balls and yam balls both tested positive for colorants, and "Mainlander" (a type of Chinese cabbage) tested positive for the pesticide acetamiprid residue, but all three of the above met the limit standards. Notably, in the heavy metal tests, the broth and hot pot ingredients all tested positive for heavy metals such as mercury and lead, but because our country has not set limit standards for such processed foods, according to the Health Bureau "we cannot say they are non-compliant, but we have also sent an official letter to the Food and Drug Administration to inform them of this." For the test report, please see the Taichung City Health Bureau "Ding Wang Mala Hot Pot" food safety incident special page

Note 2: The new version of the RoHS Directive expands the scope of product control, including large and small household appliances (e.g., vacuum cleaners), as well as information and telecommunications equipment (e.g., laptops), all requiring manufacturers to control restricted chemical substances during production. It currently maintains limits on 6 chemical substances; the heavy metals include lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium. The table lists the hazardous substance control items of the RoHS Directive: