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As the investigation goes on, Department of Health found that plasticizer containing clouding agents have been sold to both local and foreign beverage manufacturers over a long period of time, and the DOH has therefore reported the incident to WHO to prevent the damage from spreading. To ease the consumers' concerns, many local manufacturers have sent their products for SGS verification and will take legal actions to defend their company reputation. As the case of food products containing harmful DEHP continues to grow, prosecutors have found out that Yu Shen Company has been supplying clouding agent containing plasticizers to 47 beverage and food manufacturers for a long time, and its customers include many well-known biotech companies, beverage manufacturers, tea shops and some of the foreign food manufacturers. Local big food and beverage manufacturers such as Chang Gung Biotechnology, and Triko Foods Co., Ltd. both fall victims of the harmful clouding agent. Chang Gung Biotechnology, which produces health-promoting supplements has withdrawn all the plasticizer containing drinks, stressing that the incident has seriously influenced the company and will press charges against the clouding agent supplier. On the other hand, Anncare Bio-tech Center Co., Ltd. has taken the 130,000 packs of probiotic powder off the shelves, and will sue the Yu Shen Company to defend their business reputation. To ease consumers' worries, local food manufacturers such as Uni-president, HeySong Corporation, and Vitalon Foods Company have all suspended the sales of their sports drinks, while sending the drinks for SGS verification. Wei Chuan Corporation, meanwhile, said that they didn't purchase ingredients from Yu Shen Company. According to the Department of Health, there are total 21 suppliers of clouding agent, and illegal plasticizer was found in the clouding agent produced by Yu Shen Company and the other clouding agent producer. There are 2 to 3 manufacturers of palm oil in Taiwan, and the authorities have started tracking down other 19 clouding agent producers to see if they use palm oil to produce the clouding agent, rather than using toxic industrial plasticizer to make the food additives. Experts said that the cost of producing clouding agent with palm oil is 25 cents, while the costs will be greatly reduced to 2 cents only if manufacturers use industrial plasticizer. Still, even though prosecutors have started to track down contaminated products, it's very difficult to monitor the safety of the beverages in tea shops, such as milk tea or fruit tea. As for the clouding agents that have been sold abroad, prosecutors found that many clouding agent and relevant materials are being exported to Hong Kong, and Philippine, and the list goes on and on. Coca-Cola Company said that their materials for soft drinks and beverages are all imported from other countries. And to prevent the damage from spreading, DOH has reported the incident to the World Health Organization. Regarding this incident, DOH said that the current food examination process does not include the test of DEHP, and that's why the illegal plasticizer has not been found in the past 5 years. Still, DOH hasn't decided whether it will include DEHP into the regular food examination process over the concerns of increasing testing fees and manpower to do the testing. The Control Yuan demanded the DOH to establish a complete examination process to regulate food additives and offer harsh punishment to violators, in order to protect the health of the public. ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
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