The Health Ministry’s Food Safety Department on Tuesday issued a notice saying that Singapore has recalled 19 products imported from China’s Taiwan after finding them infected with maleic acid that can cause kidney failure. The recalled products include Hong Tapioca Starch, Redman Black Tapioca Pearl, Sun Right Indica Rice Powder, Top 1 Tapioca Pearls, Tea World Tapioca Starch Ball, Unbranded Starch Ball, Ding Long Tapioca Pearls, Sun Chi Noodles, T & M Resources Corp Tapioca Pearls, Pure Tea Tapioca Pearls (White), Pure Tea Tapioca Pearls (Black), Full Free Green Tea Tapioca Ball, Full Free Yam Tapioca Ball, Long Kow Vegetarian Instant Rice Noodle, and Long Kow Rice Noodle with Thick Soup, and some others, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) of Singapore. These maleic-tainted products were identified after AVA tested 66 starch-based products imported from Taiwan, the department said.  Maleic acid is not an approved additive and it is also not an additive that is usually used in manufacturing food products, according to AVA. Although occasional consumption at the levels detected does not pose any significant health risk, long term consumption of high levels of maleic acid can cause kidney damage, AVA warned. AVA advised consumers who have bought the products to either discard them or return them to the retailer. AVA said it has asked all the importers of the above-mentioned products to withdraw them from sale and the withdrawal has been completed. Maleic acid is an organic compound that is a dicarboxylic acid, a molecule with two carboxyl groups. Maleic acid is used as an industrial raw material for the production of glyoxylic acid by ozonolysis. It may also be used to form acid addition salts with drugs to make them more stable.