Police Duty

Carrot puree made by the US baby food manufacturer Gerber was taken off shelves in Taiwan Monday after a can of the food was found in Israel to contain 50 times the safe level of a toxic metal. Gerber's representatives in Taiwan, however, said the contaminated food was probably made in Europe, unlike Taiwan's, which is manufactured in the US.

A can of carrot puree made by the 77-year-old American brand Gerber was found in Israel to contain the carcinogenic metal cadmium. Gerber's representative in Taiwan made moves to reassure local parents of their products' safety.

I can say with certainty that these are two different batches, said Chen De-ren. The food imported to Taiwan is produced in the United States. We are looking into the Israeli batch and as far as we can tell, Israel is closer to Europe, so it's very possible it was produced in Europe.

Gerber makes up 85 percent of the US baby food market, making the contamination reports a serious issue. The company's Taiwan representatives were taking no chances with their carrot puree.

No matter where it was produced, we sent it to the Department of Health for testing then took it off the shelves to reassure consumers. There can't be any problems.

Gerber baby foods have been sold in Taiwan for over 20 years and around 40,000 cans of their carrot puree are sold every year. The local importer said they would wait for the samples to come back from the Bureau of Food and Drug Analysis before making a more comprehensive statement to customers.