50% of dried radish contains excessive preservatives, beware of gastrointestinal diseases

Next Saturday, the 23rd, is the Dragon Boat Festival, and many housewives have already started preparing ingredients for making rice dumplings. However, the New Taipei City Government Health Bureau announced today, the 13th, the results of a random inspection of commercially available rice dumpling raw materials and ingredients at the end of May. It was found that nearly 50% of the dried radishes, a total of 14 items, were found to contain high levels of the preservative benzoic acid, and all of the suppliers were from Chiayi County. In addition, the sweetener cyclohexylsulfonate was detected in one seasoning sauce, which may cause nausea and gastrointestinal diseases if accidentally ingested.

The New Taipei City Health Bureau sampled commercially available dried radishes and found that nearly 50% contained excessive levels of the preservative benzoic acid, all of which came from Chiayi. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Government Health Bureau)

The New Taipei City Government Health Bureau sampled various zongzi ingredients from hypermarkets, supermarkets and traditional vendors, including 30 pieces of dried radish, 10 pieces of dried shrimp, 10 pieces of zongzi leaves and 40 pieces of seasoning sauces. Among them, the formaldehyde and preservative inspection of dried radish found that 14 pieces of dried radish supplied from Chiayi County had a maximum preservative benzoic acid content of 4.404g/kg, which is 7.3 times the minimum allowable amount. Long-term consumption will cause a person to lose appetite and affect liver function.

The 14 suppliers of dried radishes that were found to have excessive amounts of benzoic acid were all from Chiayi County, namely the first joint management class of the Uchida section of Budai Township, Chiayi County (6 cases), Haishanxing Food Factory (5 cases), Yuanquanyi Food Factory (1 case), Quanyi Food Factory (1 case) and Quanyi Agricultural Products Processing Factory (1 case).

In addition, the only unqualified seasoning sauce was found to contain 0.443g/kg of cyclohexylsulfonate, which violates the regulations that it must not be detected. Long-term use of this sweetener can easily cause dry mouth, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea and vomiting. The supplier of the unqualified seasoning sauce is An An Food in Kaohsiung City.

For all 15 unqualified products, the Health Bureau has notified the sales outlets to remove them from the shelves immediately, and required the dried radish sellers to stop purchasing from unqualified manufacturers. If they are caught again, they will be fined between NT$600,000 and NT$1.5 million in accordance with Articles 36 and 58 of the Consumer Protection Act. As for businesses that illegally use food additives, they have been referred to the local health bureau for handling. If the facts are verified to be true, they will be fined NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 in accordance with Article 12 of the Food Sanitation Management Law.