With the approach of the Mid-Autumn Festival and its accompanying barbecues on Tuesday, the Cabinet yesterday released a list of potentially hazardous food and cooking items from China.
Grills, shrimp, moon cakes and hairy crabs were among the products named by the Cabinet.
At a press conference, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) said the products often contained high quantities of metals such as lead and cadmium.
PHOTO: CNA
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Department of Health (DOH) official defended the inspection standards that Taiwan applies to hairy crabs imported from China, saying that Taiwan adopts international testing standards and that no political considerations are involved.
Cheng Huei-wen (
China should not be afraid of Taiwan's quality control standards because China claims that its hairy crabs are "naturally bred" and contain no impurities, Cheng said.
He said that the bureau runs tests on all imported food products as part of efforts to safeguard the health of local consumers.
Cheng said that a total of six batches of imported Chinese white shrimp samples failed food safety tests between the end of July and Aug. 21, prompting the department to call for a halt to imports of the shrimp on Aug. 22.
Cheng said the ban had nothing to do with politics.
Cheng's remarks came after Chen Yuan-chen (
The foundation is tasked by the DOH with negotiating with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine over the imports of hairy crabs into Taiwan.
Chen said that Taiwan does not allow traces of certain antibiotics or sulfa drugs, while China allows levels of between 0.5 parts per billion (ppb) and 100ppb.
China's testing machines can detect a minimum level of 0.5ppb, while Taiwan's can detect the minimum level of 0.3ppb, Chen said, adding that the Chinese administration feared that hairy crabs might pass China's inspections but not those in Taiwan.
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