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Know More about Cross-Border e-Commerce of Food in China

Know More about Cross-Border e-Commerce of Food in China YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Exporting food to China is never an easy task. With the emergence of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) platforms, Mainland consumers however can purchase overseas food products easily. Indeed there are a number of foreign food companies targeting the Mainland market through this channel. On the other hand, how does the Chinese government regulate the import of CBEC food

Know More about Cross-Border e-Commerce of Food in China

Can Hairy Crabs with Trace Amounts of Dioxins be Sold ?

Can Hairy Crabs with Trace Amounts of Dioxins be Sold ? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon (in less than two months) again! Apart from mooncakes, hairy crabs are also a seasonal delicacy for the festival every year. As one may recall, last year the Centre for Food Safety (CFS) announced that hairy crabs imported from China were detected with dioxins. The incident once sparked strong repercussions in the community. A hairy

Can Hairy Crabs with Trace Amounts of Dioxins be Sold ?

Food Safety Management System Certification – Is it Necessary？

Food Safety Management System Certification – Is it Necessary？ YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Many food firms who care about food quality and safety will seek for certification of e.g. ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management System), etc. In Spain, researchers1 have once surveyed 189 Spanish firms with ISO 22000 certification (including food manufacturers, packaging firms, t

Food Safety Management System Certification – Is it Necessary？

What is “Natural” Food?

What is “Natural” Food? YY TSANG CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories Apart from safe consumption, consumers are looking for food that is “natural”. In fact, more and more health foods labelled as “natural” can be found in the market. However, what does the term “natural” mean? This is a tough question that even U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot answer. FDA has only expressed that a food can be labelled as “natural” if nothing artificial or synthetic (e.g.

What is “Natural” Food?

What Can Go Wrong with Sea Cucumbers?

What Can Go Wrong with Sea Cucumbers? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) There have been media reports from time to time about counterfeit and adulterated sea cucumbers. A restaurant located in Guangzhou is recently found selling “artificial sea cucumbers”. It is reported that the fake sea cucumbers are made of algal powder, konjac powder, etc. A few appearance defects of the fake food have been observed (e.g. blocked ends, papillae of equal thickness and l

What Can Go Wrong with Sea Cucumbers?

Aren’t Organic Foods Safer?

Aren’t Organic Foods Safer? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) The Consumer Council announced earlier that some organic vegetables were found to contain pesticide residues and heavy metals. Excessive chlorpyrifos was detected in a sample of organic purple sweet potato imported from the Mainland, while cadmium content in an organic carrot sample imported from the U.S. almost reached the legal limit. What are the potential causes? Photo Source：The Consumer Co

Aren’t Organic Foods Safer?

Puffer Fish and Fish Maw

Puffer Fish and Fish Maw YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Centre for Food Safety recently detected “tetrodotoxin” (TTX) from two kinds of puffer fish maw. The government therefore instructed the trade to stop the sale of affected products, and called on the public to stop consuming the problematic fish maws. Image Source：Mingpao, 2016 http://news.mingpao.com/ins/instantnews/web_tc/article/20160301/s00001/1456842442594 What is Tetrodotoxin? Tetrodotoxin is

Puffer Fish and Fish Maw

Beers and Pesticides

Beers and Pesticides YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Munich Environmental Institute in Germany recently announced the findings of a surveillance project. German beer samples from 14 most well-known brands were all found to contain a pesticide “Glyphosate”, at a level up to 29.74 micrograms per litre. Image Source：Deutsche Welle, 2016 http://www.dw.com/en/glyphosate-weed-killer-found-in-german-beers-study-finds/a-19072785 According to a risk assessment co

Beers and Pesticides

Are Boletoid Mushrooms Toxic

Are Boletoid Mushrooms Toxic？ YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) It was reported earlier that few citizens felt unwell after consuming boletoid mushrooms imported from China. Some people may wonder, “Aren’t boletoid mushrooms edible?” The fact is that there are so many species of boletoid mushrooms, and some of them are toxic. In China, 397 mushroom species belong to the family Boletaceae, of which only 33 species are toxic1. Since poisonous and non-poisono

Are Boletoid Mushrooms Toxic

FDA Bans the Use of Three Specific Perfluoroalkyl Ethyl Substances in Food Packaging

FDA Bans the Use of Three Specific Perfluoroalkyl Ethyl Substances in Food Packaging YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Perfluoralkyl Ethyl Substances Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) refer to a group of synthetic and stable chemical compounds, including perfluoroalkyl ethyl substances. Since PFCs can repel oil and water, they are commonly used in surface coating for food packaging materials (e.g. pizza box). Image Source: Newswatch Report, 2016 http://newsw

FDA Bans the Use of Three Specific Perfluoroalkyl Ethyl Substances in Food Packaging

How does United States Lower Dietary Intake of Sodium?

How does United States Lower Dietary Intake of Sodium? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Many peoples consume more salt (key concern is sodium) than they need. This can raise blood pressure and lead to serious health consequences (e.g. heart disease, kidney disease & stroke). In United States, about 75% of Americans’ total salt intake comes from salt added to processed foods by manufacturers and salt that cooks add to foods at restaurants and other food s

How does United States Lower Dietary Intake of Sodium?

Should Food Trade be Required to Conduct Mandatory Food Testing Regularly?

Should Food Trade be Required to Conduct Mandatory Food Testing Regularly? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) In recent years, problematic foods are continuously found. This drives Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) to propose a bill increasing the legal responsibility of food trade in self-management1. Starting from 31 July 2016, 17 types of food trade (in edible fats and oils, processed meat products, processed dairy products, aquatic products, fo

Should Food Trade be Required to Conduct Mandatory Food Testing Regularly?

Unsatisfactory Health Food Products in China Announced (Dec 2015)

Unsatisfactory Health Food Products in China Announced (Dec 2015) YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) On 17 Dec, China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) announced the test results of latest surveillance on health food products. Out of 240 batches of samples tested, 6 batches were found unsatisfactory. Reference：CFDA, 2015 http://www.sda.gov.cn/WS01/CL1688/138412.html These unsatisfactory test items can be categorized into three types. First group is physi

Unsatisfactory Health Food Products in China Announced (Dec 2015)

Bird’s Nest – Food Safety and Authenticity

Bird’s Nest – Food Safety and Authenticity YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Many countries have implemented stringent import control of high risk foods. For example, a food establishment in an exporting country is required to register with the relevant authorities in an importing country, and pass an assessment before she is allowed to export food to that country. It is noted that all foreign establishments exporting bird’s nests to China shall register s

Bird’s Nest – Food Safety and Authenticity

Food Safety Culture - An Overview

Food Safety Culture - An Overview YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Earlier in November, I attended an international food safety conference held in Beijing. In the conference, several CEOs of large scale food enterprises agreed that culture of a company would determine the food safety of her products. Food safety culture is demonstrated by the routine behaviour of the top management and employees of a company, and reflects their beliefs and values towards

Food Safety Culture - An Overview

Carbonated Soft Drinks Raise Health Concern

Carbonated Soft Drinks Raise Health Concern YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Many people love carbonated soft drinks, but there are concerns about the safety of soft drink consumption. 1) Brominated Vegetable Oils Few days ago Taiwan Food & Drug Administration ordered a vendor to remove about 15,500 cans of soft drinks with prohibited brominated vegetable oils (BVO) from shelves. Animal studies indicated that high doses of BVO could cause degenerative car

Carbonated Soft Drinks Raise Health Concern

Potential Carcinogens in Processed Meat

Potential Carcinogens in Processed Meat YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization (WHO), has classified processed meat (e.g. hot dogs, ham, sausages, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat & meat-based preparations and sauces) as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1); and red meat (all mammalian muscle meat e.g. beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat) as prob

Potential Carcinogens in Processed Meat

Excessive Sodium Thiocyanate in Milk ?

Excessive Sodium Thiocyanate in Milk ? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Few years ago melamine detected in dairy products caused panic to the public. Recently a milk product from a milk manufacturing plant in China was again detected with a toxic substance - sodium thiocyanate (15.2 mg/kg) which exceeded the food safety action level adopted by the Mainland government（≤10 mg/kg）1. This incident again causes people to worry about the safety of dairy product

Excessive Sodium Thiocyanate in Milk ?

Nanoparticles in Food？

Nanoparticles in Food？ YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) Friends of the Earth (Australia) has recently completed a surveillance project on nanoparticles in food1. Results showed that 14 types of food products commonly sold in Australia were found to contain nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and silica. Food Standards Australia New Zealand has issued a statement in response – at present, there has been no evidence indicating that those nanoparticles will ca

Nanoparticles in Food？

How Come Food Exceeding Legal Limits Do Not Cause Adverse Health Effects?

How Come Food Exceeding Legal Limits Do Not Cause Adverse Health Effects? YY TSANG (CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) When food is detected with a harmful chemical substance exceeding the legal limit, our government may add a statement “...However, based on the level of the chemical detected in the sample, adverse health effects will not be caused under normal consumption”. Many citizens may wonder why the government says so. How come food with chemicals exceeding t

How Come Food Exceeding Legal Limits Do Not Cause Adverse Health Effects?

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