Taiwan's Department of Health, Executive Yuan, has established "Hygienic Standards for Food Utensils, Containers, and Packaging." Recently, it imposed chemical testing requirements on plastic bottles (including baby bottles) made of materials such as polycarbonate (PC) and polystyrene (PS), specifying the following limits and safety labeling requirements: Name | Limit DEHP | Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate | 1.5ppm DBP | Dibutyl phthalate | 0.3ppm BPA | Bisphenol A | 30ppb The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on March 26 that it randomly purchased 20 "children's bath toys" for testing in February of this year. The results showed that 5 items exceeded the limit for "plasticizer content," a failure rate of 25%, with the highest exceeding the limit by 380 times; regarding labeling, 2 items did not have a "product safety label," a failure rate of 10%; and 5 items had "Chinese labeling" that did not meet regulations, a failure rate of 25%. According to the national toy safety standard CNS 4797, the total weight percentage of the six phthalate plasticizers (DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP, and DNOP) and their mixtures in a product must not exceed 0.1%. To ensure consumers are fully informed about product information and precautions when purchasing plastic food containers and packaging, and to prevent improper use, the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health, Executive Yuan, announced a draft of "Labeling Requirements for Plastic Food Containers and Packaging" two years ago (2010), and officially announced the designated plastic food containers and packaging on July 21, 2011.
