Taiwan FDA recalls massive amount of food products tainted with industrial material - Importers in Netherlands, Malaysia and Switzerland notified

[Emily]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/05/16/2003562404

FDA launches inspections of starch suppliers
MALEIC ACID:The agency ordered the inspection of 99 starch suppliers after a banned industrial raw material was found in a popular food ingredient
Staff writer, with CNA

Some differing assessments of risk (Feng is with Taiwan FDA):
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2013/05/15/378627/Local-authorities.htm

Local authorities take up illegal starch probe
By Joy Lee, The China Post
May 15, 2013, 12:33 am TWN
[snip]

Feng said that maleic acid, an organic compound which is formed after maleic anhydride comes into contact with water, does not contain poison that may damage the reproduction system or a person's genes.

?If people only consume a moderate amount of maleic acid,? Feng said, ?it will not cause any damage to their health, so consumers do not have to panic about this issue.?

Lin Ja-liang (林杰樑), head of the Department of Nephrology and the Division of Clinical Toxicology at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, said that maleic acid is an industrial material that can damage the renal tubule ? a small tube in the kidney ? so the DOH should put maleic acid under the same category as plasticizer as a means of better controlling the substance. ..

Industrial use starch found in common food products
Formosa English News:
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