More than 70,000 Chinese mitten crabs contaminated with dioxin were put on sale nationwide after importers allegedly breached rules by selling the crabs to intermediaries before tests on samples were completed, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Chinese mitten crabs — also known as hairy crabs — are a prized seasonal delicacy.
Ciaoaibo International Enterprises (喬艾舶國際企業) and Youfong Enterprises (侑豐企業) on Oct. 14 imported 14,954kg of Chinese farm-raised hairy crabs to Keelung, FDA Northern Center Deputy Director Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
Each of the three lots were sampled and put into storage while FDA laboratories ran tests on the samples, as allowed by regulations covering food products that are time-consuming to inspect, he said.
The tests showed that all three lots did not meet safety standards for residual dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyl (DL-PCB), and the FDA moved to block the sales of the crabs, he said.
However, before the results were received, the Coast Guard Administration had already begun an inquiry into the increase of hairy crabs being marketed on social media and sold at fish markets, he said.
Investigators believe the crab shipments placed in storage were replaced with dead crabs, and the live crabs sold before the test results were received, he said.
Authorities do not know how many of the tainted crabs have been sold, or how many might remain in circulation, he said.
FDA regulations state that the safety limit for dioxin in food is 3.5 picograms per gram (pg/g) and 6.5pg/g for DL-PCB, but the sampled crabs examined contained as much as 25.1 pg/g of dioxin and 27pg/g of DL-PCB, he said.
The Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) bans the manufacture or sale of dioxin or DL-PCB-contaminated food, and contravening the act is punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to NT$80 million (US$2.58 million), he said.
The FDA in October last year mandated the dioxin and DL-PCB residue tests, and only 31 Chinese hairy crab farms are certified to export their crabs to Taiwan.
The lots of crabs that failed inspections came from one or more of the authorized farms, an unnamed FDA source said.
Additional reporting by Wu Sheng-ju
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary