More stringent requirements are to be imposed for the certification of oolong and high mountain teas, and entry samples must be traceable to their place of production, the Nantou County Department of Agriculture said yesterday, following an alleged case of counterfeit tea sales.
More tea samples are to be subjected to random testing to determine their level of residual pesticide and other chemicals, department officials said, adding that QR codes would be required for all tea farmers to enable verification of the product’s place of production and processing.
The move was in response to the alleged discovery of counterfeit teas that officials say have damaged the reputation of the county’s certification and marketing processes for oolong and high mountain teas.
Photo: Chen Feng-li, Taipei Times
Prosecutors have arrested a tea farmer surnamed Lai (賴) and are conducting investigations to determine if other people or businesses were involved.
Officials raided Lai’s office and detained him for questioning, alleging that he imported tea from Vietnam, mixed it with tea produced in Taiwan and marketed it as high-priced Lugu Dong Ting oolong tea.
An official estimated that Lai made more than NT$5 million (US$165,306) in illicit profits by selling more than 8,000 catties (4,800kg) of blended tea in the past two years.
“Lai imported the Vietnamese tea leaves at a cost of NT$360 per catty. After mixing with Taiwanese tea leaves and repackaging them, he sold the leaves for between NT$1,000 and NT$2,800 per catty,” Lee said.
Lee said the case did serious damage to the Lugu Township (鹿谷) tea industry, which is worth several million US dollars in annual revenue.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS