2 Dried Shrimp Sampled for Dragon Boat Festival Contained Excessive Bleaching Agents

The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and various seasonal rice dumplings are being marketed. However, the Taichung City Government Health Bureau announced today, the 7th, the results of random inspections of commercially available rice dumplings and seasonal ingredients. It was found that the bleaching agent sulfur dioxide in 2 pieces of dried shrimps exceeded the standard, and an excessive amount of the preservative benzoic acid was detected in 1 piece of preserved radish. If consumers accidentally eat them, they may suffer from symptoms such as diarrhea and headache.

The Taichung City Government Health Bureau sampled commercially available dried shrimps and found that two items contained excessive levels of the bleaching agent sulfur dioxide. If people accidentally ingest them, they may experience allergic reactions such as headaches and nausea. (Photo courtesy of Taichung City Health Bureau)

The Health Bureau said that people who are allergic to sulfur dioxide may experience allergic symptoms such as shortness of breath, headache, and nausea. After benzoic acid enters the human body, most of it can react with glycine to form hippuric acid within 9 to 15 hours and then be excreted in the urine. A small part will combine with glucose to be detoxified. However, if the ingestion of benzoic acid exceeds the standard, it can easily cause symptoms such as drooling, diarrhea, stomach pain, and rapid heartbeat.

This time, the Health Bureau conducted random inspections on seasonal foods in supermarkets, hypermarkets and traditional markets. A total of 66 items of rice dumplings, alkaline rice dumplings, preserved radish, dried shrimps, mushrooms and shrimps were inspected, and the preservatives benzoic acid, borax, bleaching agent sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde and other items were tested. One piece of preserved radish was found to contain 1.79g/kg of the preservative benzoic acid, nearly twice the permissible amount of 0.6g/kg standard in food hygiene management regulations; two pieces of dried shrimps were found to contain 0.29 g/kg and 0.18 g/kg of bleaching agent sulfur dioxide, respectively, exceeding the standard permissible amount of 0.1g/kg.

Huang Meina, director of the Taichung City Government's Health Bureau, said that businesses that violate the regulations in using food additives will be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 in accordance with Article 12 of the Food Sanitation Management Act. It is recommended that people choose packaged and fully labeled products before purchasing Dragon Boat Festival merchandise.