I stumbled on this while looking for something else–I don’t remember reading about it in 2009 when the story broke:
[quote]A recent inspection found illegal preservatives in lactobacillus drinks produced by a factory in Miaoli County, the Taipei City Government said yesterday, promising to continue examining the quality of the drinks to protect the public’s health.
[color=#0000BF]Dehydroacetic acid[/color] was found in the “Yuanmi” [sic; the English name of the yogurt drink was “You & Me”; the Chinese name was 優安蜜–cj] yogurt drink produced at the factory, which sold the drinks to lunchbox vendors for as little as NT$2 per bottle. Furthermore “Yuanmi” contained no lactic acid bacteria, the inspection found.
Local authorities destroyed more than 9,000 bottles of “Yuanmi” at the factory and will fine the producers between NT$30,000 (US$930) and NT$50,000 for violating the Food Sanitation Control Law (食品衛生管理法).
[color=#0000BF]Consumption of dehydroacetic acid can cause liver and kidney damage and is potentially carcinogenic if consumption is long-term[/color], [a Taipei health department official] said.[/quote]–Mo Yan-Chih, “Inspectors discover illegal preservatives in drinks,” Taipei Times, October 16, 2009
Here’s what Gardner’s Commercially Important Chemicals (George W. A. Milne, Editor) says about [color=#0000BF]dehydroacetic acid[/color]:
Here’s a pic of most of a “You & Me” yogurt drink bottle.
And here’s a YouTube vid of a Chinese-language Public Television Service report on it:
