Foreign manufacturers of a food import flagged for a serious safety infraction would be from tomorrow at the earliest banned from exporting to Taiwan on the first offense, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday, amid a spike in food products from China failing border inspections.
Current regulations require several stages of testing according to risk level, with a ban only implemented if conditions are not improved after warnings.
The zero-tolerance policy announced this week is the strictest import food safety standard the FDA has ever initiated.
Photo courtesy of Chiayi City Public Health Bureau
It comes amid an increase in food imports flagged as having traces of seriously harmful additives, particularly from China.
Of particular concern are chili powder imports with traces of Sudan III, a red industrial dye banned from use in food processing that is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Category 3 carcinogen.
Earlier this week, prosecutors questioned nine employees implicated in a chili powder case discovered last month, with the Yunlin District Court on Tuesday approving the detention of one employee suspected of falsifying a safety report to cover up the presence of Sudan III.
A Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson said the head of research and development at spice vendor Chiseng Hong Ltd (濟生), a man surnamed Kuo (郭), has been ordered to be detained, while a subordinate, a woman surnamed Kuo, has been released on NT$50,000 bail.
The two are suspected of contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) by falsifying a report on a seasoning powder from quality testing company SGS Taiwan (SGS台灣), saying it did not contain Sudan III.
The employees allegedly falsified the report to prevent the product’s clients, including retailer PX Mart Co (全聯實業), from thinking the product was not safe.
The seasoning was sourced from New Taipei City-based raw material dealer Bao Hsin Enterprises Co (保欣企業) and supplied by Chinese company Sanhe Drug Co (三禾藥業).
The case of Sudan dyes came to light when the Chiseng product was tested by Yunlin County health authorities on Jan. 30.
The discovery led to random inspections that have so far found four batches of problematic chili powder supplied by Bao Hsin, the FDA said, adding that 21,235kg of the powder had been recalled as of Monday.
The agency’s latest announcement of flagged imports on Tuesday showed another batch of chili powder, mushroom seasoning and dried bitter melon from China with excessive pesticide levels.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
The navy next month is expected to commission into service two more domestically built Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes, a source said yesterday. The Hsu Chiang (旭江, PGG-621) and the Wu Chiang (武江, PGG-623) would be officially commissioned in a ceremony early next month, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The corvettes, launched in February and June last year respectively, were delivered to the navy in February. They are the third and fourth Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes to be produced. The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a domestically designed and manufactured class of fast and stealthy multipurpose corvette built for the
A total of 41 US military personnel were stationed in Taiwan as of December last year, a US congressional report said on Friday last week ahead of Tuesday’s passage of an aid package that included US$8 billion for Taiwan. The Congressional Research Service in a report titled Taiwan Defense Issues for Congress said that according to the US Department of Defense’s Defense Manpower Data Center, 41 US military personnel were assigned for duty in Taiwan. Although the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1979 included a vow to withdraw a military presence from Taiwan, “observers have indicated