Shocking follow-up on Shangzhou milk: Council of Agriculture preliminary tests find no painkillers or antibiotics in eight products
Yesterday, Business Weekly, citing research by Chen Liang-yu, a professor in the Department of Biotechnology at Ming Chuan University, reported that 9 dairy products on the market contained metabolites of painkillers, antidepressants, contraceptives and antibiotics. The Council of Agriculture announced the test results today: apart from "Wei Chuan Papaya Flavored Milk," which could not be sampled because production had stopped, none of the remaining eight products were found to contain painkillers, sulfonamide antibiotics or quinolone antibiotics; as for plasticizers, apart from "Cocoa Good Friend," which is still being tested, all other products were within national standards; however, metabolites cannot be used to directly trace back the drugs used, and the Council of Agriculture does not have reference standards on hand either, and is still in contact with Chen Liang-yu.
No painkillers or antibiotics detected in the eight dairy products
Chen Liang-yu's research pointed out that "Uni-President Dr. Milker Fresh Milk - Whole Milk," "Rui Sui High Quality Fresh Milk," "Rui Sui Chocolate Milk," "Wei Chuan Lin Feng Ying High Quality Fresh Milk," "Papaya Milk," "Taiwan Bifido Cocoa Good Friend," "Kuang Chuan Malt Milk," "Rui Sui Shi Jia High Quality Pure Fresh Milk," and "Kuang Chuan Unadjusted Fresh Milk" contained metabolites of painkillers, antidepressants, contraceptives and antibiotics, but did not specifically name which drugs they were metabolites of. Therefore, the Council of Agriculture could only test the 48 drugs already listed for monitoring, such as sulfonamides and quinolones, and used acetaminophen, which has a similar composition, as the reference standard for painkillers.
On the 19th and 20th, the Council of Agriculture took samples of the named products from the market. Apart from the discontinued Wei Chuan Papaya Flavored Milk, which could not be sampled, none of the other eight products were found to contain painkillers, sulfonamide antibiotics or quinolone antibiotics. "Cocoa Good Friend" is still being tested for the plasticizer DBP; although the other products did contain DBP, none exceeded the 0.5ppm limit set by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The test results for "Cocoa Good Friend" are expected to be announced tomorrow.
No reference standards, so the Council of Agriculture cannot confirm the source of the metabolites
Zhu Qing-cheng, deputy director of the Livestock Department of the Council of Agriculture, said that it is very difficult to trace a metabolite directly back to its source substance. For the pyrimidine-class antibiotic metabolites named in the report, no other country in the world tests for them directly, and there are currently no reference standards or testing methods. Next, the Council of Agriculture will use existing antibiotic data to test whether they can metabolize into pyrimidines.
Liu Ya-fang, section chief of the Animal Drugs Division of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that as far as she knows, internationally only nitrofurans and malachite green are detected using metabolites, because the metabolites of these two are more distinctive and the source can be identified relatively clearly.
Zhu Qing-cheng said that under Article 40 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, when a test report is released, the testing method and the basis for interpreting the results should be published at the same time; scientific testing should clearly disclose the testing error, how many tests succeeded and how many failed, and judge the reliability. At 3 p.m. today, colleagues had already contacted Chen Liang-yu, hoping the professor would provide the reference standards and testing methods as soon as possible, but as of after 5 p.m., no word had yet come back.
Drug use at more than 500 dairy farms to be checked within a week
Zhu Qing-cheng said that the Council of Agriculture currently regularly monitors 48 sulfonamides and quinolones, 7 tetracyclines, 3 chloramphenicols and 8 beta-lactams, sampling an average of about 460 items per year, and in the past 3 years only one item failed inspection, in 2013; for the 13 fresh milk products bearing the CAS mark, 600 items are sampled each year, with a pass rate of 99.8% over the past 3 years.
Qiu Chui-zhang, chief secretary of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that there are more than 500 dairy cattle farms across Taiwan, and inspection personnel have been mobilized in all areas to check drug use and drug storage. Yesterday, 103 farms were reported as normal, and the inspection is expected to be completed within a week.