FDA seeks removal of products suspected with DEHP

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said supermarkets and retail stores will be asked to remove temporarily high-risk products from Taiwan — such as sports drinks, soft drinks, juices, and jellies — which are suspected of containing the chemical "DEHP. In an advisory posted on Monday, the FDA described DEHP — Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate — as a plasticizer used in the making of medical devices like intravenous bags and tubing, blood bags and infusion tubing, and nasogastric tubes. Taiwanese authorities discovered that DEHP had been illegally added to a food product raw material known as "cloudy agent" used for emulsification. In an FDA advisory, FDA Director Dr. Suzette Lazo said Taiwan is cooperating to provide more information, and that her agency has established a direct link with Taiwan's own FDA. "As a precautionary measure and pending identification of implicated products, FDA will instruct supermarkets and retail stores to temporarily remove from the store shelves identified high-risk products that include sports drinks, soft drinks, fruit juices and jellies and until such time when these have been proven to be free of the contaminant DEHP," she said. She added the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has also been informed of the move. - VVP, GMA News