Nearly 9,000 kg of tainted chili powder used in food made in Nantou

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Nearly 9,000 kilograms of chili powder containing banned Sudan dyes have been used to produce 55 food items, including barbecue sauce, in Nantou County that were then distributed to the market, the county's Public Health Bureau said Sunday.

In a statement, the bureau said it was alerted by its Kaohsiung counterpart Saturday that 8,988 kilograms of contaminated chili powder were shipped from Gin Zhan International Co., Ltd (Gin Zhan) in Kaohsiung to the Nantou factory of Golden Howard Foods Trading Co., Ltd. (Golden Howard).

Based on the latest data from Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), Gin Zhan had imported seven shipments of chili powder containing Sudan dyes from China as of Friday since the tainted chili powder incident came to light in early February.

On Sunday, officials from the bureau went to inspect the Nantou factory and found only about 13 kilograms of the tainted chili powder left in stock. The rest, it said, had already used to produce 55 food items that were sent to various channels.

The inspectors told CNA that apart from selling barbecue sauce to retailers, Golden Howard also received orders for the production of bulk quantities of barbecue sauce that was subsequently distributed to restaurants and other sales channels.

The bureau said it has asked Golden Howard to notify the 139 food companies that used its products to recall the contaminated food items and report the daily quantity of the items recalled.

According to the latest data provided by TFDA on Friday, a total of 152,072.8 kilograms of tainted chili powder imported by its four main Taiwanese importers and the products they made with it have been recalled and sealed.

The chili powders of 21 Chinese exporters and manufacturers were prohibited from being imported to Taiwan for three months starting on Feb. 20 for shipping products containing Sudan dyes or pesticides.

The measure was taken after shipment-by-shipment inspections of chili powders from China were imposed on Dec. 11, 2023 and found several to contained Sudan dyes, which accentuate the red color of chili powder.

Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said on the sidelines of a medical festival in Taipei on Sunday that the ministry may extend the import ban or even prohibit those 21 Chinese businesses from exporting their products to Taiwan in the future.