Taipei, June 9 (CNA) The Consumers' Foundation said Wednesday that 25 percent of the bean curd products it inspected recently contained enough benzoic acid and other chemicals to cause liver damage or stomach cancer.

With the approach of the Dragon Boat Festival, many people are buying bean curd products to stuff the rice dumplings that are popular at this time of year, the foundation noted.

However, the foundation said, in its recent inspections, it found that eight out of the 32 bean curd samples contained excessive levels of the preservative benzoic acid and traces of fungicide.

The 32 items included six samples of bean curd noodles, seven samples of deep-fried tofu, five samples of vegetarian chicken, eight samples of bean curd squares, and six samples of bean curd sheets, it said.

One of the bean curd noodle samples purchased at a traditional market in Muzha was found to contain between 0.6 g/kg and 1.0 g/kg of benzoic acid, which was over the highest permissible level of 0.6g/kg set by the Department of Health, it said. Consumption of products containing such high levels of the preservative could lead to liver damage, the foundation warned.

Noting that the government has banned the use of benzoic acid in deep-fried tofu, the foundation said traces of the chemical was found in four of the seven samples purchased at traditional markets in Changchun, Banciao, and at a Carrefour supermarket in Chungho.

Other samples of bean curd noodles were found to contain traces of fungicides, which the foundation said could cause stomach cancer.

According to the Act Governing Food Sanitation, food manufacturers whose products are found to contain chemicals in excess of the permitted level could be subject to fines of between NT$300,000 and NT$150,000, the foundation pointed out.

Two or more violations in the space of a year could lead to a revocation of business licenses and closure of the production unit until corrective action is taken, the law states. Repeat offenders could be also fined between NT$180,000 and NT$900,000.

Source: Focus Taiwan

Editor: Shi Liwei