High levels of a cancer-causing chemical
have been found in Chinese
sauces used in many kitchens.
Health Canada is
investigating after British
health authorities ordered
stores and supermarkets to
clear the shelves of Amoy
Oyster Sauce because it
contains dangerous levels of
the carcinogenic chemical
3-MCPD.
The sauces, including the
hugely popular Lee Kum Kee
oyster and soy sauces, contained as much as
3,000 times the recommended amounts of the
chemical.
"Our food safety inspectors have been alerted,"
said a Health Canada official.
In Hong Kong, manufacturers Amoy Food and
Lee Kum Kee said they planned to solve the
problem by changing the recipe by the end of the
year.
Amoy said it has stopped supplying its oyster
sauce to the European Union until the recipe is
changed.
But the company said it will not withdraw the
sauces from sale elsewhere.
"Amoy and Lee Kum Kee have been around for
generations. They are the Coca-Cola and Pepsi
Cola of Chinese sauces," said Victor Wong of the
Vancouver Association of Chinese Canadians.
Wong described the sauces as the salt of Chinese
kitchens, adding the public will not be too happy
to see them taken off the shelves here.
"But the reports will help them make a choice,"
he said.
Original story from http://www.canoe.ca/Health9910/04_sauce.html
Follow-up story: Thursday, October 7, 1999 Food inspectors check Chinese
sauces
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