Talcum powder found in flour from Shandong province
Flour has joined the list of food products made in China, found to be contaminated with dangerous additives. Recently, a flour mill in Shandong province’s Pingdu city has been found to contain talcum powder, with the factory allegedly adding large quantities of the substance over an extended period of time. Police have confiscated talcum powder found at the manufacturing plant.
The Pingdu manufacturer has been in operation for 6 years, with a dozen or so workers and produces over 8 tonnes of flour per day, according to Chinese food technology website tech-food.com.
One of the workers revealed that the manufacturer uses on average 20 tonnes of talcum powder every month, the volume added depends on the grade of the flour. For example, Grade 1 flour would have 2.5kg of talcum powdered added to 50kg of flour, where as Grade 3 flour would have over 10kgs of powder added to 50kgs of flour. According to SOH sources, villagers around the manufacturing plant are well aware of this practice, and do not purchase flour from the manufacturer.
Talcum powder costs only 180 Yuan per tonne, and most of the flour produced at the plant was sold to nearby food halls and small scale food processors. Talcum powder is apparently added to the flour as a whitener to improve its appearance to boost sales.
Chinese police have found over 200 bags of talcum powder and 200 bags of flour containing talcum powder as well as a mixer and a bag sealer.
October 20th, 2008
[...] Flour has joined the list of food products made in China, found to be contaminated with dangerous additives. Recently, a flour mill in Shandong province’s Pingdu city has been found to contain talcum powder, with the factory allegedly adding large quantities of the substance over an extended period of time. Police have confiscated talcum powder found at the manufacturing plant. (more…) [...]
Talcum powder found in flour from Shandong province