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The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (July 21) that two samples of Taiwan-style drinks "peach red tea" and "lychee juice green tea" taken at two local drinks shops were found to contain a plasticiser di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The CFS has instructed the concerned shops to immediately stop sale of those two kinds of drinks.
The spokesman said, "One sample of 'peach red tea' was collected from Taiwan-style drinks shop 'Taste', and one sample of 'lychee juice green tea' was taken from another shop 'Hoi Chi Yuen' (transliteration). They were collected for testing while CFS staff were conducting surveillance checks at local retail outlets on the five categories of high risk food products (i.e. sports drinks; fruit juice; tea drink; 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.
"Test results showed that the 'peach red tea' sample and the 'lychee juice green tea' sample contained DEHP at levels of 4.2 parts per million (ppm) and 6.2 ppm respectively, exceeding the action level of 1.5 ppm adopted by the CFS.
"In the case of the 'peach red tea' sample, dietary exposure estimation revealed that the exposure to DEHP from daily consumption by average consumers (i.e. daily consumption of about 250ml of the drink) would not exceed the safety reference value, i.e. the Tolerable Daily Intake of 0.025mg/kg of body weight under the World Health Organization Guidelines. However, daily consumption by high consumers (i.e. daily consumption of about 460ml of the drink) would exceed the safety reference value which may pose a risk to human health," the spokesman said.
As for the "lychee juice green tea" sample, the spokesman noted, dietary estimation revealed that the exposure to DEHP from daily consumption by both average consumers and high consumers would exceed the Tolerable Daily Intake of 0.025mg/kg of body weight under the World Health Organization Guidelines.
The spokesman said the CFS is tracing the ingredient suppliers of the concerned drinks and will take samples for testing.
He added, "The CFS will closely follow up the case 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/Thursday, July 21, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:28
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