Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/02
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu
Taipei, March 2 (CNA) Various cold-stored and frozen fresh vegetables and
(CNA file photo)
fruit imported from Japan, South Korea and the United States to Taiwan have been found to be tainted with excessive pesticide residue during customs checks in 2015, an official of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday.
The substandard foods were cabbages, spring onions, perilla and lily bulb from South Korea and Japan, as well as sweet oranges from Japan and cherries from the United States, said Hsiao Hui-wen (蕭惠文), a division chief at the FDA, while releasing the results of border checks on imported products in the last year.
All the products found to have failed to meet Taiwan’s food safety regulations had to be shipped back or destroyed based on the law, Hsiao said.
The official added that the qualification checking frequency on such products will now be increased from the basic 20 percent to 50 percent, in light of the findings.
In 2015, 640,012 batches of foods and products related to food were imported to Taiwan, up 3.85 percent from the previous year, according to FDA statistics. [FULL STORY]
