The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said that its latest pesticide residue testing on fresh fruit and vegetables resulted in a failure rate of 23.1 percent, with the failed items including strawberries and kumquats imported from Japan.
The department said the 52 tested items — 43 domestic and nine imported — tested last month were randomly sourced from markets, retailers, restaurants and beverage stores.
The results showed that 12 items failed the pesticide residue testing, including seven domestic items (a failure rate of 16.3 percent) and five imported items (a failure rate of 55.6 percent), it said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Department of Health via CNA
The failed items included three types of strawberries, two types of kumquat, two types of Chinese kale, two types of Chinese cabbages, two types of garland chrysanthemum and a chili pepper.
Among the failed items, a garland chrysanthemum used at a hotpot restaurant was found to have three types of pesticide exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL) — boscalid at 14.9 parts per million (ppm) (MRL at 4ppm), difenoconazole at 3.5ppm (MRL at 1ppm) and dimethomorph at 4.9ppm (MRL at 2.5ppm).
The five imported items are two types of kumquat and three types of strawberries, all imported from Japan by the same importer in New Taipei City, department data showed.
The imported strawberries were each found to have one type of pesticide exceeding the MRL, the imported kumquats were each found to have a type of pesticide that has been banned, while one was also found to have a pesticide exceeding its MRL.
Food and Drug Administration section head Chen Yi-ting (陳怡婷) said the high failure rate of imported items could be because the department focused on selecting food items with a higher risk of containing pesticide residues, and the high rate of imported strawberries from Japan detected with high levels of pesticide residue could be a seasonal issue.
She urged people to wash fresh fruit and vegetables thoroughly before eating, to prevent possible intake of pesticide residues.
Separately, the Food and Drug Administration yesterday said that 15 batches of strawberries imported from Japan in the past three months were found with excessive pesticide residues at border inspections, so the administration on Monday launched a batch-by-batch inspection mechanism for all imported strawberries from Japan.
Additional reporting by CNA
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS