Taiwan clinics lingered with toxic syrup!

Officials audit clinics over syrup  May 30, 2011 The China Post New Taipei City health authorities yesterday audited several clinics and drugstores to see whether they were still selling sweetening syrup contaminated with problematic clouding agents. Sweetening syrup is used along with children's medicine to make it less bitter. Contamination of these sweetening products indicates Taiwan's current food safety crisis, one of the biggest in the island's history, has spilled over to the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. Saturday, New Taipei City was tipped off by Taipei that a company, Chuanlin International Trade Co. (全霖國際貿易公司), has been selling strawberry- and grape-flavored syrup that was contaminated with so-called clouding agents. Chuanlin got the products from Chinchuan Co. (金饌公司), which received clouding agents mixed with plasticizers from Yu Shen Chemicals Co. Ltd. (昱伸), the upstream supplier that has provided DEHP-contaminated emulsifiers to many of Taiwan's renowned food manufacturers. New Taipei City conducted an investigation and found 12 clinics were selling the syrup from Chuanlin. It contacted seven of the clinics; five were closed for the weekend. The city's department of health further ordered a complete recall of sweetening syrup products from clinics and drugstores, unless they can provide proof that the syrup is safe to consume."Our health officials will audit clinics and drugstores and will require all retailers to provide certificates proving their products' safety," said New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu yesterday, while accompanying President Ma Ying-jeou on a visit to a seniors' care center in the Sanzhi District of the city."Noncompliance will be severely punished," he said.Yesterday, New Taipei City health authorities audited clinics and drugstores along Yangming Street in the Banqiao District. Separately, the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health yesterday announced another famous pharmaceutical manufacturer whose products contain clouding agents made by Yu Shen. The manufacturer, Hong Shing Pharmaceutical (宏星製藥), is a decades-old firm whose most famous product is a health supplement for women. Yesterday, the DOH announced that the company's lactic acid bacteria product contains Yu Shen-made clouding agent and has seized 404 boxes of the product. By noon yesterday, a total of 156 companies have been affected by the crisis, DOH said. In a related story, the Banqiao District Office yesterday denied media reports linking Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑), head of Yu Shen, to Ben Hur Spices and Chemicals (賓漢香科化學公司), which was also found to have added different plasticizer DINP into its clouding agents. According to the reports, Lai had worked as an apprentice at Ben Hur, where he learned about mixing plasticizers with clouding agents and replicated the process at his own company later on. Yesterday, the reports were denied by the Banqiao District Office, which has already questioned Lai several times. According to the district office, Lai has never acknowledged apprenticing for Ben Hur.