- Department:Chief Secretary Office
To strengthen the management of chemical substances, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) pre-announced 16 chemical substances as toxic chemicals. These include 14 Sudan dyes that may have been illegally added to food or animal feed, and two persistent organic pollutants (i.e., pentachlorophenyl laurate and perfluorooctanoic acid) that do not decompose easily in the environment. In addition, the EPA tightened up the perfluorooctane sulfonate concentration limits.
The EPA stated that 14 of the 16 chemical substances are not legal additives for foods, and are instead industrial pigment dyes. Some companies have added them to foods or animal feed to reduce costs, increase sales, and improve product appearance, thus elevating health risks to humans. For example, Sudan dyes are commonly used in furniture paint, shoe polish, floor wax, car wax, and fat coloring. Although such dyes are expensive, they do not fade easily. Food safety incidents such as the use of said dyes in chili powder, chili sauce, and salted duck eggs have been reported abroad; the Taiwanese government’s active sampling endeavors in 2017 also discovered these dyes in commercially sold salted duck eggs. Therefore, to prevent the use of illegal dyes in food, the EPA pre-announced 14 chemical substances, including Sudan dyes, as Class IV toxic chemicals. This facilitates systematic control from the source and collaboration between different departments, to achieve the goal of food safety. Once the announcement have been made, relevant companies must obtain a permit, make declarations, mark the use of prohibited ingredients in food and animal feed, and not engage in self-authorized transfer. Failure to do so will result in the companies being fined NT$60,000–NT$300,000.
The announcement also discussed the persistent organic pollutants pentachlorophenyl laurate, perfluorooctanoic acid, and perfluorooctane sulfonate. The EPA explained that these pollutants do not decompose easily in natural environments or have relatively long metabolic half-lives, and are substances harmful to human health and natural ecosystems. Thus, the United Nations formulated the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, mandating that its member states comply with the convention by banning or limiting the production of these pollutants. Pentachlorophenyl laurate has been used to prevent textile and leather corrosion and is a pollutant to be eliminated, according to the Stockholm Convention; while perfluorooctanoic acid is used variously as a surfactant and an emulsifier. Said pollutants are to be controlled pursuant to the Stockholm Convention and are listed as Class IV toxic chemicals, according to international control trends. To strengthen the management of chemical substances, the EPA plans to tighten up its perfluorooctane sulfonate concentration limit, from the original 1% to 0.01%.
For materials related to this pre-announcement, please download the file from EPA News (https://enews.moenv.gov.tw/enews/fact_index.asp) or the Executive Yuan Gazette Online ( https://gazette.nat.gov.tw/egFront/indexEng.do), beginning the third day after the announcement has been made. Those who have any opinions or recommendations about the proposal are welcome to relate them (Email: lingkai.yu@epa.gov.tw) within 60 days of the date of its announcement.
