Call to stop sale of plasticiser-tainted Taiwan-style drink and consumption of fibre pie produced in Taiwan

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (July 27) that a sample of lychee drink, collected from a Taiwan-style drinks shop, City One Beverage Company, was found to contain a plasticiser, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The CFS has instructed the shop concerned to immediately stop sale of the drink.

The sample was collected for testing while CFS staff were conducting surveillance checks at local retail outlets on the five categories of high-risk food products (sports drinks; fruit juice; tea drinks; fruit jam/fruit nectar or jelly; and food in tablet, capsule or powder form) and on other relevant food products in response to the plasticiser contamination incident in Taiwan.

A CFS spokesman said, "Test results showed that the lychee drink sample contained DEHP at a level of 3.1 parts per million (ppm), exceeding the action level of 1.5 ppm adopted by the CFS.

"Dietary exposure estimation revealed that the exposure to DEHP from daily consumption by even high consumers (i.e. daily consumption of about 410 ml of the drink) would not exceed the tolerable daily intake of 0.025mg/kg of body weight under the World Health Organization guidelines.

"Even though dietary exposure estimation shows no health concern from consuming the lychee drink sample, the CFS instructed the shop to stop sale of the drink as a precautionary measure," the spokesman said.

The CFS is in the meantime tracing the ingredient suppliers of the drink and will take samples for testing.

Furthermore, the CFS noted from the Macao authority that DEHP was detected in "GH Assorted Fruits Dietary Fibre Pie" (translation), produced in Taiwan. As the product has also been imported to Hong Kong, the CFS instructed the trade to stop sale of the affected batch immediately and urged the public to stop consuming it for the time being. Product details are as follows:

Brand name and food name: GH Assorted Fruits Dietary Fibre Pie
Importer: HK FOOD.BIZ Ltd
Manufacturer: Shyang Shin Yuh Industrial Co, Ltd (Taiwan)
Place of origin: Taiwan
Net weight: 320 grams
Expiry date: May 2, 2012
Count/Weight/Volume: 320 grams (16 packets x about 20 grams)

The spokesman added, "The CFS will closely follow up the matters and take samples of other similar products available in the market for tests. If any food product is found to be tainted with plasticisers, it will take necessary follow-up actions to safeguard public health."

Ends/Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:15