Seven of 25 samples of aquatic products examined last month were found to contain small amounts of a banned fungicide, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday night.
The samples of tilapia, grouper and threadfin fish that were contaminated with malachite green had residue amounts of around 0.002ppm — the maximum level acceptable in the EU.
Taiwan’s food safety law bans the presence of residues of malachite green in aquatic products sold locally.
The toxic chemical, used to treat external fungal and parasitic infections on fish and shellfish, has been found to harm animals’ livers in laboratory tests.
Hsu Ching-hsin (許景鑫), a DOH food safety official, said the contaminated aquatic samples were collected from seven places, including a farmers’ association supermarket in Taitung County, a seafood restaurant in Kaohsiung County, a fish market in Chiayi City, a Carrefour shop in Taipei City’s Wanhua District (萬華), a department store in Taichung County, a seafood restaurant in Taichung City and a coastal fish market in Keelung City.
Even though the contaminated fish might have been consumed, Hsu said the DOH would track all related suppliers, which could be slapped with fines of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 if they are found to have illegally used the fungicide for disinfection.
Hsu said public health and fishery administration officials would be required to cooperate with the DOH in tracking down suppliers of contaminated fishery products.
Meanwhile, officials from the Fisheries Administration said the banned substance might come from groundwater used in fish farming or from residues of contamination incidents reported in 2004 and 2005.
Officials said, however, that it was premature to speculate on the cause of the contamination before aquaculture farms involved in the incident are identified.
As to whether the contamination could affect Taiwan’s fish exports, the officials said of the three contaminated fish species that only grouper was on the export list, with Hong Kong as a major market. Hong Kong does not have any regulations governing malachite green residues.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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