Three shipments of olive oil from Spain and Italy have been denied entry into Taiwan after the oil was found to contain the unauthorized coloring agent copper chlorophyllin during customs inspections, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The largest shipment was of 6,000kg of olive pomace oil from the Spanish brand Vidoria.
The other two were 2,160kg of Santagata olive pomace oil and 54.96kg of Castello extra virgin olive oil, both from Italy.
Olive pomace oil is a cheaper form of olive oil pressed from the residue left after producing virgin olive oil.
The agency increased border inspections of cooking oil imports in November last year, when copper chlorophyllin was detected in certain imported products sold on the local market, including those supplied by Vidoria.
Vidoria olive oils are currently subject to batch-by-batch inspection, said Feng Jun-lan (馮潤蘭), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for Regional Administration.
The agency is to step up inspections of the olive oils and olive pomace oils brought in by the importers of the other two batches to 20 percent of their shipments, Feng said.
The government began late last year to pay closer attention to the coloring agent, which is not authorized for use in edible oils in Taiwan, following a domestic edible oil scandal.
Oils produced in Taiwan were found to be adulterated, and some companies tried to pass off cheaper oils as olive oils by adding copper chlorophyllin, which made them look more like olive oils.
Meanwhile, in related news, shipments of fresh strawberries from Japan have been found to be tainted with excessive pesticide residues.
The residues were found on three shipments of strawberries weighing a total of 43.2kg brought in by three different importers.
All three shipments were from Japanese trading company Meiko Trading Co, and it was the third time fresh strawberries shipped by Meiko failed border checks, Feng said yesterday.
Because of the previous problems, measures have been taken to screen each batch of Meiko Trading’s strawberries shipped to Taiwan, Feng said.
In addition, a shipment of 59kg of fresh grapes imported from Meiko Trading also tested positive for excessive pesticide residues, according to the FDA.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS