经济学人下载:台湾爆发食品丑闻 塑化剂事件

Food scandals in Taiwan
台湾爆发食品丑闻

Plastic unfantastic
塑化剂事件

Tainted products also poison the president’s chances of re-election
食品受到污染给总统争取连任的前景蒙上阴影

Jun 16th 2011 | TAIPEI | from the print edition

TAIWAN’S biggest-ever food scare began when government inspectors testing sports drinks and soft drinks last month detected dangerous levels of industrial plasticisers. These are normally used to make everything from shoes to hosepipes more flexible. Since then, the plasticisers have been found in a range of foods and drinks. The crisis has also gone firmly international as China, Hong Kong, South Korea and the Philippines have withdrawn Taiwanese products from supermarket shelves. Taiwanese commentators are wondering how the government can live the scandal down.

上个月，台湾政府负责食品检验的工作人员在一些运动饮料及软饮料中检测出了含量足以对人体产生危害的工业塑化剂成分，由此引发了台湾最大的一次食品恐慌。通常情况下，塑化剂被广泛应用于鞋类、塑料软管等产品中，可起到增加柔韧度的作用。事件发生后，又相继在一系列食品和饮料中发现了塑化剂的身影。随着中国，香港，韩国和菲律宾纷纷将台湾产品从自己的超市中下架，这次危机毫无疑问已经造成了国际性的影响。台湾的评论家们都在琢磨政府将如何从这桩丑闻中脱身。

Some 900 products have been pulled from nearly 40,000 Taiwanese shops. Hospitals have been flooded with worried parents seeking check-ups for their children. Diets have swiftly changed. Out have gone processed drinks and even ice cream.

约有900中商品已在台湾近40000家店铺中撤柜，医院里也挤满了忧心忡忡的来给孩子做检查的父母。人们的饮食习惯顷刻间发生了改变，含添加剂的饮料，甚至是冰激凌都已在市面上消失。

The problems have been traced to two upstream suppliers of food additives, Yu Shen Chemical and Pin Han Perfumery. Among other things, plasticisers were substituted for palm oil as clouding agents in drinks. One plasticiser, known as DEHP, is a possible carcinogen, and thought capable of wreaking havoc with children’s reproductive organs. The inspectors discovered levels far in excess of the daily allowed intake. Insiders have told investigators that products may have been doctored for decades.

引发这次塑化剂风波的源头被锁定在两家食品添加剂上游供货商身上：昱申化工和品汉香料。塑化剂用在饮料中可替代棕榈油起到混浊剂的作用。一种可能致癌的叫做DEHP的塑化剂，被认为会对儿童的生殖器官产生严重损害。食品安全检验人员在被检查的食品中发现了含量远超过每日允许摄入量的该种塑化剂。有内幕人士告诉调查人员，或许早在几十年前就存在向食品中掺入有害添加剂的行为。