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.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
RSS