The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said that starting next year, all shellfish imports are to be required to carry official certification from the exporting country to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
Eating shellfish, such as abalone, clams or raw oysters contaminated with marine toxins or microbes can cause food poisoning leading to vomiting and diarrhea or more serious conditions.
There have been five major global alerts about shellfish food poisoning since January, including norovirus contamination in raw oysters from France and Ireland, and food poisoning cases in Hong Kong caused by contaminated raw oysters from Scotland, FDA Division of Food Safety section head Wu Tsung-hsi (吳宗熹) said.
Photo: CNA
High levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning were also twice detected in clams in Japan and several cases of shellfish-induced food poisoning were reported in China’s Fujian Province this year, he said.
In 2015, more than 100 tourists visiting Green Island (綠島) developed symptoms of food poisoning after eating oysters imported from South Korea at a local restaurant.
The oysters were later found to be infected with norovirus, according to media reports.
Norovirus is one of several common causes of shellfish poisoning, including hepatitis A virus, vibrio parahaemolyticus, staphylococcus aureus and vibrio cholera, Wu said.
Wu said shellfish are filter-feeders and can accumulate toxins produced by microscopic algae or heavy metals in sea water, as well as contamination by microbes.
“Basically, microbial food poisoning will not occur if food is cooked thoroughly, but we think shellfish needs to be managed at the source to enhance hygiene control,” he said.
Wu said that from January next year, exporting countries would be required to certify that shellfish products have been collected obtained from legal fisheries or aquaculture farms.
FDA statistics data show that 8,496 tonnes of shellfish were imported to Taiwan from 30 countries last year.
The top five countries of origin by volume were China (35 percent of all imports), Japan (18 percent), the Philippines (14 percent), Indonesia (9 percent) and the US (5 percent), the data showed.
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