Many small cake and sweet shops in the residential areas of Hanoi city continue to sell Taro jelly packets, even though the Taiwanese company New Choice Foods in Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park II in the southern province of Binh Duong had recalled the product from shops and supermarkets across the country by June 6.

Taro jelly

The product continues to sell at VND25,000 (USD1.21)-VND30,000 (USD1.45) a kilogramme in small packets. Other shops in Hanoi also displayed various brands of jelly with dubious origin on June 7.

Nguyen Cong Khan, chief of the National Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said the department would send inspection teams to verify New Choice Foods Company’s announcement.

Health authorities also asked the Taiwanese company to destroy all recalled products and 100 kilogrammes of sealed cloudy agent additives.

Huynh Le Thai Hoa, head of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said yesterday that health authorities would test many products imported from Taiwan (China).

The Taiwan health watchdog had found abnormally high levels of the plasticizer DEHP in products like tapioca pearls of the Possmei Company, Calcium Grow and Vitamin tablets of Brand Corporation, Fruit House of Heysong Food Corporation, ‘Pro Sweat’ and asparagus juice by Uni-President, Taiyen collagen powder and Biotech\'s Power-Lac nutritious powder.

The department ordered all made-in-Taiwan products to be tested by relevant agencies for DEHP content.

The plasticizer DEHP, used in a food additive known as ‘cloudy agent’, makes food items visually more appealing to consumers. The substance is believed to contain carcinogenic.