And as usual the 154th would end the report on a high note.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Home > News > Home > Story
</TR>
<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Deadly Jelly?
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>AVA says no complaints against the jelly brands available here </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Debbie Yong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Two-year-old Lee Guan Hui with the jelly cups. The five brands The Sunday Times found at local supermarkets had consumer warnings in red print on the packaging. The AVA has no plans to ban the cup jellies. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Call them the killer jellies.
Popular bite-size cup jellies, known as konnyaku or konjac, have caused the deaths of 17 people in Japan since 1995.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>It's the way you eat it 'There's nothing wrong with the product. It depends on the way people consume it. Parents should take some responsibility, too.'
A company director of Tanesei Trading, which imports the Ace Bakery brand of konnyaku jellies
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The latest victim was a 21-month-old Japanese boy. He died in July this year after eating a frozen Konnyaku Batake jelly his grandmother gave him as a snack.
Although this brand is not sold in Singapore, a Sunday Times check at six supermarket outlets has turned up at least five similar types of konnyaku cup jelly snacks.
Cup jellies, which are about the size of ping-pong balls, are usually squeezed or sucked out of their plastic cups. Popular with children, the fruit-flavoured jellies come wrapped in colourful cartoon- adorned packaging.
The danger of choking arises if a jelly gets straight into the throat without being chewed. If frozen, it becomes hard and less jelly-like. This raises the risk of suffocation, the National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan has warned.
A Japanese government report released last week disclosed that all the deaths in Japan were the result of choking.
Following the report, Japanese jelly manufacturer MannanLife decided last Wednesday to halt production and shipment of one of its brands, Konnyaku Batake.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has said it has not received any complaints or feedback against konnyaku jelly products and does not plan to ban them in Singapore.
The European Union and South Korea have already done so.
AVA says the Konnyaku Batake brand is not available in Singapore.
The five brands The Sunday Times found at local supermarkets ranged in price from $2.10 to $5.80 per packet of 12 to 50 cups. All had consumer warnings in red print on the packaging.
The warnings stated that the jellies were unsuitable for elderly folk and children under three or five years of age.
Some advised that the jelly should be cut into even smaller pieces, and that it should be thoroughly chewed before swallowing.
Konnyaku jelly, often made from yam paste, is popular as a diet food, as it is high in fibre and low in calories. Bite-size cup jellies often contain special thickening agents and can be kept at room temperature.
The combination of these two factors, though, means that this type of jelly is firmer than regular jelly and is also harder to chew.
Two brands in The Sunday Times' survey - Ace Bakery's Soft Konnyaku Jelly and Harvest's Konnyaku Jelly - are imported from Japan and carry warnings only in Japanese. The other three brands, imported from Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia, have warnings in English as well.
Supermarket chains say cup jelly products will stay on the shelves unless the AVA asks for a recall.
Ms Chong Nyet Chin, NTUC FairPrice's director of food safety and quality, said: 'We will work with our suppliers to improve consumer education information on the products' packaging.'
When contacted, a company director of Tanesei Trading, which imports the Ace Bakery brand of konnyaku jellies, said her company would look into adding warning stickers in English from next week.
It will not, however, stop importing the products unless demand from retailers drops drastically.
'There's nothing wrong with the product. It depends on the way people consume it. Parents should take some responsibility, too,' she said.
Pharmacist Tracy Then, 28, agrees and says the news will not stop her from buying the popular jellies. She will, however, allow her 18-month-old son to eat the jellies only when he is older than three, and when he has had more teeth. 'I will make sure I am there to supervise when I introduce him to the jellies,' she says. 'Children will eventually come across these snacks somehow. It's better that we teach them how to eat the jellies properly than avoiding them altogether.'
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Home > News > Home > Story
</TR>
<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Deadly Jelly?
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>AVA says no complaints against the jelly brands available here </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Debbie Yong
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Two-year-old Lee Guan Hui with the jelly cups. The five brands The Sunday Times found at local supermarkets had consumer warnings in red print on the packaging. The AVA has no plans to ban the cup jellies. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->Call them the killer jellies.
Popular bite-size cup jellies, known as konnyaku or konjac, have caused the deaths of 17 people in Japan since 1995.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>It's the way you eat it 'There's nothing wrong with the product. It depends on the way people consume it. Parents should take some responsibility, too.'
A company director of Tanesei Trading, which imports the Ace Bakery brand of konnyaku jellies
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The latest victim was a 21-month-old Japanese boy. He died in July this year after eating a frozen Konnyaku Batake jelly his grandmother gave him as a snack.
Although this brand is not sold in Singapore, a Sunday Times check at six supermarket outlets has turned up at least five similar types of konnyaku cup jelly snacks.
Cup jellies, which are about the size of ping-pong balls, are usually squeezed or sucked out of their plastic cups. Popular with children, the fruit-flavoured jellies come wrapped in colourful cartoon- adorned packaging.
The danger of choking arises if a jelly gets straight into the throat without being chewed. If frozen, it becomes hard and less jelly-like. This raises the risk of suffocation, the National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan has warned.
A Japanese government report released last week disclosed that all the deaths in Japan were the result of choking.
Following the report, Japanese jelly manufacturer MannanLife decided last Wednesday to halt production and shipment of one of its brands, Konnyaku Batake.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has said it has not received any complaints or feedback against konnyaku jelly products and does not plan to ban them in Singapore.
The European Union and South Korea have already done so.
AVA says the Konnyaku Batake brand is not available in Singapore.
The five brands The Sunday Times found at local supermarkets ranged in price from $2.10 to $5.80 per packet of 12 to 50 cups. All had consumer warnings in red print on the packaging.
The warnings stated that the jellies were unsuitable for elderly folk and children under three or five years of age.
Some advised that the jelly should be cut into even smaller pieces, and that it should be thoroughly chewed before swallowing.
Konnyaku jelly, often made from yam paste, is popular as a diet food, as it is high in fibre and low in calories. Bite-size cup jellies often contain special thickening agents and can be kept at room temperature.
The combination of these two factors, though, means that this type of jelly is firmer than regular jelly and is also harder to chew.
Two brands in The Sunday Times' survey - Ace Bakery's Soft Konnyaku Jelly and Harvest's Konnyaku Jelly - are imported from Japan and carry warnings only in Japanese. The other three brands, imported from Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia, have warnings in English as well.
Supermarket chains say cup jelly products will stay on the shelves unless the AVA asks for a recall.
Ms Chong Nyet Chin, NTUC FairPrice's director of food safety and quality, said: 'We will work with our suppliers to improve consumer education information on the products' packaging.'
When contacted, a company director of Tanesei Trading, which imports the Ace Bakery brand of konnyaku jellies, said her company would look into adding warning stickers in English from next week.
It will not, however, stop importing the products unless demand from retailers drops drastically.
'There's nothing wrong with the product. It depends on the way people consume it. Parents should take some responsibility, too,' she said.
Pharmacist Tracy Then, 28, agrees and says the news will not stop her from buying the popular jellies. She will, however, allow her 18-month-old son to eat the jellies only when he is older than three, and when he has had more teeth. 'I will make sure I am there to supervise when I introduce him to the jellies,' she says. 'Children will eventually come across these snacks somehow. It's better that we teach them how to eat the jellies properly than avoiding them altogether.'
