The Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute yesterday showcased the results of its collaboration with universities around the nation to monitor pesticide ingredients and residue levels, with officials saying that the initiative tested more than 12,000 pesticide samples and continues to ensure food safety for the public.
Institute Director Fei Wen-chi (費雯綺) told a press conference that “safe agriculture” has been one of the council’s major policies in recent years.
The policy aims to monitor the sources and residue levels of pesticides used on produce and is an improvement on former policies, which primarily focused on residue, she said.
In an effort to promote efficiency, the institute teamed up with seven universities, providing them with technological support and guidance so that pesticide developers could send samples to testing stations at the university nearest to them.
The seven universities are National Cheng Kung University, National Formosa University, National Pingtung University of Science, Meiho University, National Chung Hsing University, National Yilan University and National Taitung University.
Fei said that the tests are especially helpful when determining suitable pesticides for regional produce, such as abiu and hsiang-ju (Glossogyne tenuifolia), an antipyretic herb cultivated in Penghu.
She said the test sites offer farmers insights on how to maintain produce of lower demand or economic value, with information on frequency of pesticide use, maximum residue limits and pre-harvest intervals.
Among the topics covered yesterday was the management of eco-friendly biopesticide, including microbial pesticides, biochemical pesticides and organic pesticides.
Since biopesticides often need to go through a lengthy testing period involving animal experimentation, the testing stations help to share part of the institutes’ work, such as ingredient verification and bacterial analyses, thereby expediting the biopesticides’ registration process for developers and shortening technology licensing time, meaning qualified new biopesticides would be able to hit the market sooner, she said.
Fei said pesticide developers could bring questions regarding registration and residue analysis to the testing stations, which also function as information centers.
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