The Legal System Bureau of Taipei County Government in Taiwan has published a report which states that cancer-causing chemicals have been identified on the food products of such fast food companies as McDonald's and KFC.
According to local media reports, oil used by McDonald's Tucheng Jincheng outlet, Zhongyang outlet, Yonghe Zhongzheng outlet and Dominos' Yonghe Zhongzheng outlet, Napoli Tucheng Zhongyang outlet, KFC Tucheng Jincheng Outlet, and KFC Yonghe Zhongzheng outlet all contain acrylamide. Of these fast food outlets, the acid value of McDonald's at Tucheng Zhongyang was the highest, reaching 23.88mgKOH/g. Besides propanoic acid, a kind of preservative, arsenic has also been found on the McDonald's bread in the Tucheng Jincheng outlet and Zhongyang outlet and arsenic has been identified on Dominos' Yonghe Zhongzheng outlet at a level which is said to be more than nine times higher than the approved standard in Taiwan.
McDonald's refuted the government's report with its own test which claimed that the company's food did not contain arsenic, but instead a small amount of copper, which it claimed might be attributed to the storage environment of the oil and would not be of any harm to health. McDonald's requested TCG to re-test its food after deciding not to use any preservatives for its hamburgers.
Chen Rongkui, the director of the Legal System Bureau of Taipei County Government, said that all the fast food outlets tested had a problem with propanoic acid, which may cause cancer. Chen stated that the use of oil filtering powder would not be of much help in maintaining the food quality or preventing any carcinogens. Chen said that relevant regulations should be revised to fix the standard content of propanoic acid in food and ban the use of oil filtering powder.
It is understood that fast the fast food company may be fined up to TWD300,000 if harmful chemicals are found in their food products.
