On Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency disclosed that China has banned the import of hundreds of food products from Taiwan. The action was taken after the authorities in Taipei issued a warning that these products could be tainted with a chemical used in plastics.

The agency has also announced that in addition to the 22 products banned on Wednesday, Beijing has deferred imports of 812 products including beverages, food and additives.

Taiwan has recalled more than 460,000 bottles of sports drinks and juice after some locally manufactured drinks were found to contain the plasticizer. Taiwan has launched an investigation to ensure that sports drinks, juices and three more product categories were not tainted with DEHP or five other chemicals.

The Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) of Taiwan has asked the manufacturers of five categories of foods and beverages including sports drinks, juices, tea drinks, fruit jams or syrups, and tablets or powders, to provide certificates showing that their products do not contain DEHP or other plasticizers.

The owner of the manufacturing company that used DEHP as a cheap substitute of the more expensive palm oil in products has been arrested by the authorities.