Combination food products imported from Japan will be inspected batch by batch and opened for detailed inspections of all products contained in packages, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The announcement came after the administration confirmed that soy sauce that came pre-packaged in a natto product — Japanese fermented soy beans — produced by Kajinoya in Japan and sold at fast-food restaurant chain Yoshinoya and supermarkets in Taiwan was produced in Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture, one of the five Japanese prefectures from which food imports were banned in 2011 over concerns of radioactive contamination.
FDA Northern Center director Chiu Hsiu-yi (邱秀儀) said Taicrown (太冠), importer of the natto product, faces a fine ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$942 to US$94,150) for false inspection registration, adding that it may face other fines for importing food made in Japan’s Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma or Chiba prefectures.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
She said another natto product produced by Kajinoya and imported by Yihsin (羿昕) was also found to contain the same type of soy sauce produced in Ibaraki, but the importer had registered the product as made in Hyogo Prefecture.
The importer has removed the product from shelves and would confirm the origin of the product with the Japanese manufacturing company, the FDA said.
FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) said that food imports from the five prefectures are still banned, adding that the administration would boost border inspections given sporadic discoveries of combination food products being imported in violation of the ban.
The importers would be asked to explain the origin of the sauces if they are not printed on the packages, Chiang said, adding that the administration is also considering demanding that importers register the origins of packaged sauces in their products, she added.
Chiang said that health departments would also intensify their inspections of Japanese food products to make sure that they are not made in the five prefectures, urging all food importers to recall any product made there and notify the authorities.
The FDA has also launched an inspection of all food products imported from Japan.
The inspection, being conducted with the help of health authorities in the nation’s 22 counties and municipalities, is expected to be completed within a week, Chiang said.
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