Authorities have seized more than 20 tonnes of Fuji apples imported from the US by Costco Taiwan because they were found to contain excessive levels of fungicide, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The popular apple variety was one of 14 products included in the FDA’s weekly report on import shipments confiscated for food safety breaches.
The shipment of 20,580kg of Fuji apples was seized after testing showed that it contained residues of the fungicide pyrimethanil at a concentration of 8.7 parts per million (ppm), slightly above the maximum permitted limit of 7.0ppm.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
It was the second consecutive week in which US apples imported by Costco appeared in the report, following the seizure last week of nearly 12,000kg of Ambrosia apples for excessive levels of the insecticide cyantraniliprole.
Among the other items confiscated by the agency this week were two large shipments of black sesame seeds from India, which were found to have prohibited levels of a regulated insecticide.
The shipments — weighing 114,000kg and 18,300kg — contained chlorpyrifos residue at a concentration of 0.03ppm, higher than the legal limit of 0.02ppm, the FDA said.
The report also listed the seizure of 1,386kg of four-rayed threadfin fish from Indonesia for high methylmercury content and of 500kg of frozen mangosteen fruit from Thailand for excessive levels of the insecticide cypermethrin.
The seized products were either returned to their country of origin or destroyed, the FDA said.
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