Mock meats

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For those of you who buy tinned mock meats produced in Taiwan:

 

 

Over 50% of processed foods for vegetarians found to contain meat

 

Central News Agency

2009-06-14 06:38 PM

 

 

Taipei, June 14 (CNA)

The Investigation Bureau has recently found that some processed foods advertised

as vegetarian contained meat, and it has vowed to refer producers who knowingly

added meat to their products for prosecution on fraud charges.

Pu Chang-en, a technician at the bureau's department of forsensic science, said

Sunday that among samples collected from 31 vegetarian food vendors in Taipei

City and County for safety checks, food taken from 17 vendors were found to

contain meat.

 

DNA tests revealed that in the two most serious cases, the vegetarian patties

and ham of one vendor and vegetarian dried shredded pork from another vendor

contained at least 20 percent beef or pork, Pu said.

 

An investigation targeting the producers of the fraudulent vegetarian processed

foods has been launched to find out whether meat was deliberately added to the

soybean-based products to enrich their texture and flavor.

 

Fu explained that it is possible that vegetarian foods showing small traces of

meat could have been contaminated by poorly cleaned work tables or cooking

equipment in factories that also produce meat products.

 

Producers found not to have deliberately defrauded consumers would not be

subject to prosecution but would receive a warning and be ordered to remove

problem products off store shelves, Fu said.

 

(By Elizabeth Hsu)