Tea store chain Stornaway (英國藍) was yesterday ordered to temporarily close all of its branches nationwide pending a further test of its tea products, following the discovery that three types of tea leaves it sold contained excessive pesticide residue.
The order was issued by the Tainan City Government’s Department of Health after Stornaway notified the agency earlier yesterday that samples of 330kg Earl Grey tea leaves, 150kg Ceylon tea leaves and 240kg Darjeeling tea leaves it purchased from Taipei-based Chou Chieh Trading Co (洲界貿易) last month were found to contain pesticide residue in a recent test it authorized a third party to conduct.
“In light of the latest findings, the department has instructed other local health bureaus to oversee the temporary shutdown of all of the chain’s 96 branches in the nation. All relevant tea products have been pulled from shelves,” Pharmaceutical Affairs Section official Cho Ching-ching (卓金津) said.
Photo: CNA
Cho said the help of the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health and the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office has been requested in identifying the source of Chou Chieh’s allegedly tainted tea leaves.
The shutdown order came after the Miaoli County Government’s Public Health Bureau on April 14 found that Stornaway’s rosebuds — also bought from Chou Chieh — were contaminated with 11 types of pesticides, including dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), the so-called “poison of the century.”
A preliminary investigation showed that the tainted rosebuds were part of a 4.5 tonne shipment imported by Kaohsiung-based Yuen Yeeh Enterprise Co (原宜貿易) from Iran in August last year.
Taipei Department of Health Food and Drug Division director Wang Ming-li (王明理) said the department has confirmed that Chou Chieh was the sole ingredient supplier of all of Stornaway’s black tea products.
“According to data from the city’s food ingredient platform, the three kinds of contaminated black tea leaves were imported from Sri Lanka,” Wang said, adding that the agency yesterday confiscated 20 boxes weighing 600kg of the black tea leaves from Chou Chieh’s office on Liaoning Street.
Wang said Stornaway’s headquarters have been unreachable since it faxed the test results to Tainan’s health bureau, and that all of its 26 branches in Taipei were closed yesterday.
Taipei’s Department of Health urged food companies to immediately suspend manufacturing and sales of their products if they are found to pose a threat to public safety.
“Violators could face a fine ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$3 million [US$962.37 to NT$96,237] in accordance with the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法),” it said.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
RSS