Taiwan Expatriate Food Blog

Entries in food safety (4)

Saturday
27Dec2008

A review of Taiwanese Sesame Paste

DateSaturday, December 27, 2008 at 08:53PM

Updated on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 07:45PM by Registered CommenterWebmaster

Healthy eating in Taiwan can be a problem. While looking for an alternative to imported peanut butter made in China, I considered a Taiwanese brand of sesame butter. Sesame butter is manufactured from sesame seeds, and has the advantage of being sugar free and high in calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium and phosphorus. Fufann Sesame Paste is hygienically produced (HACCP), has won awards for food quality, and is attractively packaged. It seems like a good product.

PROS
1] Geek appeal. The first thing I noticed about Fufann Sesame Paste was the use of Gwoyeu Romatzyh (tonal spelling of Mandarin) in the brand name: "fann" is 4th tone fan (four tones: fan, farn, faan, fann). I granted them five points for being wise enough to use the best romanization ever devised.

2] Hygiene. The second thing that caught my eye was the ISO-2200 HACCP certificate for food hygiene. That was enough for twenty more points.

3] The taste test will have to wait until I open the can

CONS
Brimming with virtue, I came home with my can of health-promoting sesame paste, but my joy soon turned to suspicion. Looking more closely at the label, I started to notice discrepancies.

Click to read more ...

AuthorWebmaster | Comment3 Comments Print ArticlePrint Article | in
tagged , , ,
Sunday
14Dec2008

Aflatoxin

DateSunday, December 14, 2008 at 08:09PM

Note that aflatoxin exposure can lead to liver cancer, so this is no laughing matter (Better safe than sorry, as they say). Wikipedia notes that "Virtually all sources of commercial peanut butter contain minute quantities of aflatoxin,[2] but it is usually far below the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recommended safe level."

Does this apply to Chinese peanut butter as well? I wonder.

Click to read more ...

AuthorWebmaster | CommentPost a Comment Print ArticlePrint Article
tagged ,
Sunday
14Dec2008

Are you sure you want that peanut butter?

DateSunday, December 14, 2008 at 06:46PM

I have never been terribly fond of peanut butter, but I occasionally have some with my homemade bread. Because Taiwan is very humid, local peanuts are susceptible to the growth of mold (Hwangchiu dwusuh), so I prefer to buy a foreign brand. The only brand commonly available in Taiwan is Sk----, but a few days ago I was very surprised to find that it is manufactured under license in China. To their credit, the local branch of Uni-----, even list the street address of the Chinese manufacturer.  That's fine. If you trust food grown and processed on the other side of the Taiwan Straits, well ... be my guest. The only problem is that some foreign consumers do not read Chinese. They may mistakenly buy a jar of "American" peanut butter and wind up feeding something quite different to their children or themselves. Caveat emptor!

After thinking the matter over, I decided to buy a local brand supposedly made in Canada. At the time, this jar was only half the price of the American brand (Sk----'s price has been dropping: I wonder if this has anything to do with its place of origin). After buying one jar of Gin-- Peanut Butter, I decided to check out the "Canadian" manufacturer, but I came up with nothing. I am wondering if Gin-- is a misspelling of "Virginia." Virginia peanuts are a variety grown in Canada. I am now wondering: am I eating "Canadian" peanut butter made in China?



Please note that I am not trying to make trouble for Taiwanese peanut butter manufacturers. All I have are some nagging doubts and unproven assumptions. That is why I refer to Sk----, Uni----- and Gin--. The pictures will make it clear what I am referring to.

 

Click to read more ...

AuthorWebmaster | Comment1 Comment Print ArticlePrint Article
tagged , ,
Monday
14Jan2008

Atemoya Season!

DateMonday, January 14, 2008 at 07:46PM

Rejoice in God's bounty! Atemoya Sugar_apple.jpg season is here. In Taiwan, atemoyas (the fruit on the left) are often called Fenqli Shyhjia ("pineapple Shakyamunis"). The second word refers to their resemblance to a Buddhist monk with a shaven head; the first word is presumably a reference to their slightly sour taste. Buy atemoyas when they are hard and keep them for a few days until they start to get soft (slightly rubbery). If they are surrounded by fruit flies, they are way past their prime. When your atemoya is ready to eat, rinse it off (always a good idea), slice it open, and enjoy the marvelous aroma and flavor. Don't chew on the hard, black seeds (they contain arsenic; the same goes for apple seeds) and don't let small kids run around while eating atemoya. Sad to say, there have been choking incidents in the past.

The fruit on the right is called cherimoya, called simply Shyhjia (shakyamuni) in Taiwan and Fan laiji in Hong Kong. When ripe, cherimoyas, which have a cloyingly sweet flavor, start to fall apart. Atemoyas taste much nicer, IMHO. Enjoy them while they are in season: make up your own mind! Please do post comments on this weblog.

 Atemoya article in the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atemoya

 

AuthorWebmaster | CommentPost a Comment Print ArticlePrint Article | in
tagged , , ,