Food lovers might not get the chance to enjoy Dazha hairy crabs imported from China’s Jiangsu Province this year because as of yesterday, no local importer had filed for permits to bring in the freshwater delicacy.
“There’s not muAch chance that Dazha crabs from Jiangsu’s Yangcheng Lake area will make it to local tables before the Mid-Autumn Festival — which is only a week away — as it takes at least three working days to complete all paperwork for imports,” said Hsieh Ting-hung (謝定宏), deputy director of the Bureau of Food Safety.
No discount chain stores or seafood companies have applied for permits to import the hairy crabs from China so far this year, he said.
With the approach of the high season for the Chinese crabs, importers should have already started preparing the paperwork, including import permits and quarantine documents, he said.
Hsieh said local importers usually start the paperwork in early September.
Last year, none of the crabs were imported via legal channels as Chinese authorities refused to issue safety documents for crab exports to Taiwan, Hsieh said.
After traces of cancer-causing substances were detected in crabs imported from Jiangsu Province in 2006, the Department of Health imposed stricter import screening measures last year, including official quarantine certificates issued by Chinese authorities to prove that hairy crabs supplied by the 42 officially recognized Dazha crab farms in China were safe to eat.
Hsieh said that the department would use the same stringent screening measures this year.
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