Taiwan plans to set plasticizer levels in food

 2011/06/21  Taipei, June 21 (CNA) Taiwan will spend a year to investigate plasticizer contamination before setting permissible levels of plasticizers in food based on which food and beverage products can be recalled from store shelves, a health official said Tuesday. In a year, the Department of Health (DOH) will put forth criteria on maximum permissible levels of plasticizers allowable in foods, beverages and medicines, said Kang Jaw-jou, director-general of the DOH's Food and Drug Administration. The criteria will in turn be used as standards for deciding whether any food, beverage or medicine should be taken off store shelves due to its high plasticizer content, Kang said during the National Food Safety Conference. By that time, he said, Taiwan will probably be the first country in the world to set standards on the allowable content of plasticizers in food for recalls. Baby foods and formulas, as well as bottled beverages, will be on the priority list of the drive, he said. People are susceptible to plasticizer contamination through various channels, but mainly through food, he said. For example, he said, traces of plasticizers could be found in food packed in plastic containers and milk could be found to contain traces of plasticizers because the cows drank plasticizer-tainted water. While traces of plasticizers are unavoidable, foods, beverages and medicines containing plasticizers by over 1ppm will be put under risk assessment, he added. Meanwhile, Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta said besides the standards on the allowable content of plasticizers in food, Taiwan will follow European Union criteria to advise tolerable daily intake (TDI) of plasticizers. The EU criteria on plasticizer TDIs advise an intake of plasticizer DEHP at 50 micrograms per kilogram of weight; DBP, at 10 micrograms; DIDP and DINP, at 150 micrograms; and BBP, at 500 micrograms. (By Chen Ching-fang and Deborah Kuo) enditem/ly