China's top quality watchdog has stepped up its ban on imports of products from Taiwan that have been contaminated by plasticiser, an industrial chemical used to soften plastic packaging.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on June 4 released the latest items produced by Taiwan to be banned. According to the authority's official website, 858 products including beverages, food products and food additives made by 255 companies in Taiwan, have been banned from import into China.
On the blacklist: asparagus juice made by the popular brand Uni-President as well as a number of children's products, such as the nutrition brand Karihome made by Taiwan Direct Biological Technology Company.
The new list of banned Taiwan products is much longer than the original one issued by the AQSIQ on June 1. At the time only 22 kinds of beverages, food products and food additives from Taiwan produced by companies suspected of using bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were banned.
Meanwhile, China's State Food and Drug Administration has suspended the production and sale of two health products for containing toxic phthalate acid esters (PAEs) made by two companies in the mainland on June 3.
The cancer-causing plasticizer DEHP in food and drinks can lead to kidney or testicular damage and fertility problems if consumed regularly. Children are even more vulnerable to the hazardous effects.
Chang Jui-chuan, secretary general of the Taiwan Beverage Industries Association, said the DEHP scandal will definitely hit Taiwan's beverage industry hard, which is expected to suffer a loss of NT$500 million (US$17.4 million), according to Taiwan's Central News Agency.
So far, it is not clear whether food and beverage producers on the mainland have been illegally adding DEHP to their products, experts said.
This week Taiwan began an inspection drive to ensure sports drinks, juices and three more product categories were not tainted with DEHP or five other blacklisted chemicals, after first raising the alarm on May 24 with a major recall.
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