Renowned tea beverage chain 50 Lan (50嵐) yesterday became embroiled in an ongoing pesticide scare revolving around tea chain store Stornaway (英國藍), after one of its tea beverages was found to contain excessive levels of fipronil.
The chain, which has more than 500 branches nationwide, was among 20 tea beverage stores inspected by the Taichung City Government’s Health Bureau on April 1 and 2.
The bureau said it tested a total of 32 beverage products for pesticide residues, with four testing positive.
The “four season tea” (四季春茶) from 50 Lan’s Daming (大明) branch in the city’s Dali District (大里) contained fipronil at 0.003 parts per million (ppm); the black tea from A Tea’s Siangsin (向心) branch was found to have 0.005ppm of fipronil; the Assam black tea from Tea Shop (喫茶小舖) had 0.004ppm of fipronil; and the Tieguanyin tea (鐵觀音) from Kuang Fu Hsin Tea Co (廣福鑫茶業) had 0.008ppm of fipronil and 0.07ppm of insecticide ethion.
“However, given that the maximum permissible levels for fipronil in edible products was reduced from 0.005ppm to 0.002ppm in July last year, we have requested local health bureaus where each of the four tea stores is located to ascertain whether the tea leaves in question were produced before or after the policy change,” Taichung Health Bureau Deputy Director Tsai Shu-feng (蔡淑鳳) said.
As no residue of ethion is allowed in beverages and with the level of fipronil found in its tea product being higher than the original maximum allowable level, Tsai said the bureau has referred Kuang Fu Hsin for discipline and ordered it to stop selling its Tieguanyin tea beverage.
50 Lan’s central area manager, Ma Ya-fen (馬雅芬), yesterday afternoon posted a picture on Facebook of an SGS test report on its green tea ingredients, urging the chain’s customers to rest assured that its product met required standards.
Tainan City Government Department of Health official Wang Chi-shan (王基山) said the tested sample from 50 Lan belonged to a batch of 7,568kg tea leaves the company purchased from Tainan-based San Ching Tea Manufacturing Co (三清製茶) on March 18.
“Each batch of tea leaves acquired from San Ching came with an SGS test report. The one for the March 18 batch showed that the tea leaves contained fipronil at merely 0.002ppm, which met the government’s regulations,” Wang said.
Wang said 50 Lan has requested a retest, but the bureau ordered a preventive recall of the tea beverage regardless, to ensure public safety.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said that all imported tea leaves and flower petals have been subjected to a batch-by-batch border inspection since Tuesday, in response to the pesticide scare.
“Importers who pass three border inspection tests in a row could see the inspection rate of their goods drop to 50 percent, and further to 20 percent and 5 percent, pending the inspection results,” FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) told a press conference in Taipei.
Chiang said Taiwan imports tea leaves and flower petals from a total of 47 countries, with those from Vietnam accounting for nearly 70 percent.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
NATIONAL DAY: The ‘Taiwan Dome’ would form the centerpiece of new efforts to bolster air defense and be modeled after Israel’s ‘Iron Dome,’ sources said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday pledged to strengthen the nation’s air defense capabilities and build a “T-Dome” system to create a safety net against growing military threats from China. “We will accelerate our building of the T-Dome, establish a rigorous air defense system in Taiwan with multi-layered defense, high-level detection and effective interception, and weave a safety net for Taiwan to protect the lives and property of citizens,” he said in his National Day address. In his keynote address marking the Republic of China’s (ROC) 114th anniversary, Lai said the lessons of World War II have taught nations worldwide “to ensure that
RSS