Beijing, June 2 (IANS) A chemical used to make plastic soft and flexible, that can also affect hormone balance in the human body, has been detected in a number of food products made in Taiwan, China’s food quality watchdog has said.
Sports drinks, juices, tea, fruit jams or syrups and food additives produced by 10 Taiwan-based companies would be banned from entering the China, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
DEHP or Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate – a cost-effective chemical used mainly for making PVC soft and pliable – was found in many items.
The quality watchdog has issued a temporary ban on such food, the China Daily reported.
Sang Liwei, a lawyer specialising in food safety, said the toxicity of DEHP was about 30 times that of melamine, and this scandal was no less formidable than the melamine-tainted dairy products scandal that was detected in China in 2008.
Taiwan’s health authorities have also announced that DEHP was found in some bottled beverages and dairy products, and have ordered 168 food processing companies to recall over one million tainted items.
