Samples collected two years ago from several crops, including celery and strawberries, were found to contain excessive levels of insecticide residue, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said in a report this month.
The council’s Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute on Jan. 9 released the results of its insecticide residue tests on vegetables and fruits in 2017.
Of the 5,322 samples of 47 kinds of fruits collected, 3.1 percent contained insecticide residues higher than the maximum permissible level, the report said, adding that strawberries, passion fruit and citrus fruit had a disqualification rate of more than 10 percent.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
Fruits used in school lunches had a disqualification rate of 4.9 percent, higher than the 3 percent among fruits sampled on farms, it said.
Of the 8,847 samples collected from 16 kinds of vegetables, 5.1 percent contained insecticide residues in excess of the permissible limit, the report said, adding that celery, peas and radishes had higher disqualification rates.
The agency collects nearly 30,000 samples of vegetables, fruits, tea leaves and rice for insecticide testing every year, COA Agriculture and Food Agency Deputy Director-General Juang Lao-dar (莊老達) said yesterday.
It immediately informs local agriculture bureaus to track producers and issue fines if it finds samples containing excessive levels of insecticide residues, Juang said.
The disqualification rates are similar to those in Japan, Europe and the US, he said, adding that a ranking of the so-called “most toxic” crops is meaningless, as the list might change every year.
The samples were collected from crops grown in fields and unqualified produce would not be allowed into markets, institute Acting Director-General Ho Ming-hsun (何明勳) said.
The test results should not be interpreted as certain crops being toxic, as the “allowable daily intake” criterion takes into account the daily consumption levels of different substances by people from different age groups, he said.
Certain samples show higher levels of insecticide residues possibly because farmers grow different crops on the same field, while a given insecticide is not applicable for every crop, he said.
Another reason might be that farmers did not harvest the produce at the recommended time, he said, adding that they are advised to use biological insecticides with lower toxicity closer to harvest.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai