More camellia oil batches fail carcinogen test; sales suspended

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Four additional batches of camellia oil produced by Taiwanese manufacturer Aconpure Green Technology Inc. have been found to contain excessive levels of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a carcinogen, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) announced Monday.

Health authorities have ordered the company to suspend all production and sales of its camellia oil products, the TFDA said.

The announcement came days after Aconpure voluntarily reported on July 21 that some of its camellia oil products exceeded Taiwan's legal limit for BaP, a carcinogen that can form during high-temperature food processing.

Speaking at a news conference, TFDA Director-General Chiang Chih-kang (姜至剛) said that of the seven batches initially reported by the company, two had already been confirmed by Aconpure to contain 2.9 parts per billion (ppb) of BaP, exceeding the legal limit of 2 ppb.

The remaining five batches were sampled by the New Taipei City Department of Health and tested by the TFDA, with four found to exceed the legal limit, Chiang said.

The TFDA previously said that 5,024 bottles were produced using the affected batch of raw materials. Of those, 939 bottles had been distributed to retailers, while the remaining 4,085 were still in the company's possession and have since been sealed.

According to Chiang, the New Taipei health department ordered Aconpure to remove the seven affected batches from store shelves by noon on July 23. It also ordered the company to halt production and sales of all its other camellia oil products beginning July 22.

The TFDA has repeatedly stressed that the camellia oil case is unrelated to the earlier case involving Central Union Oil Corp., noting that the two incidents involved different raw materials -- soybeans in the Central Union case and camellia seeds in the Aconpure case -- although both cases involved issues related to the heating process.