Page 72 - 2017食品藥物管理署年報(英文版)

2017 Taiwan Food and Drug Administration Annual Report

B. In September 2016, Consumers' Foundation, Chinese Taipei acted as a

whistleblower as carcinogenic matters, namely benzene, was detected in oil
products on the market. The source of oil products and processing procedures
were suspected involving illegal matters. TFDA promptly established analytical
methods and tested 40 oil products. Of which 26 products were free of benzene
detection. At the same time, 14 samples containing benzene with the level
between 2.0-34.2 ng/g, which is still within the background value set by
European Research Institute (≤100 ng/g) . Based on the scientific evidence,
note
TFDA issued test results of benzene levels in oil products on the market and
successfully relieved the doubts and concerns about such products.

Note: Opinion on certain aromatic hydrocarbons present in food (expressed on
20/1/1999). From http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scf/out24_en.html.
C. In September 2016, a rumor was widespread online that a wet strength agent,
polyamine-epichlorohydrin resin, PAE resin, was added in drip coffee packs to
avoid breakage of coffee packs during immersion in hot water. Moreover, it is
also claimed that the alcoholic and oily substances in coffee may expedite and
dissolve the carcinogens of the wet strength agent into the coffee. To clarify such

accusation, TFDA tests 9 drip coffee packs on the market. The results showed
that the filter bags used in all 9 products are all made of PP non-woven fabric
materials, which are all 3-MCPD-free. All samples were in accordance with the
regulation of the material test and migration test, respectively. TFDA rapidly
released test results to the public 3 days after the news with the support of
scientific evidence.
D. To clarify the rumor of heavy metal releasing from BBQ nets, TFDA sampled
10 BBQ nets and plates on the market and simulated real BBQ situations with
non-marinated and soy sauce-marinated pork tenderloin slices. The purpose

was to investigate heavy metal transmission from various BBQ utensils and the
differences of hazardous contents such as Benzopyrene as well as PAHs from
scorched pork. In September 2016, TFDA held a press conference to announce
test results. A press release entitled “Heavy metal from BBQ net? TFDA says: It’s
just a rumor.” was also issued to inform the public that the concerns about heavy
metal transferred from BBQ utensils shall be relieved based on the scientific
evidence. However, scorched meat indeed increased the level of hazardous

materials. Therefore, TFDA demonstrated safe BBQ approaches to protect public
health.

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