The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would implement stricter plant quarantine at customs and has proposed corrective measures to vendors after the US returned Taiwanese exports of butterfly orchids, citing weeds found on their culture media.
Taiwan and the US signed an agreement in 2004 that allows Taiwan to export butterfly orchids with their culture media to the US.
The incident came to light after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Hui-yuan (賴惠員) expressed concern over Taiwan’s orchid industry at a question-and-answer session in the legislature.
Photo: CNA
Lai asked COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) whether he was aware that the American Institute in Taiwan informed the council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine last month about the orchids being sent back from the US.
Chen said that vendors had reported the incident, and he had asked the bureau and concerned agencies to come up with solutions.
The COA has been communicating with the US and would come up with ways to manage the weed problem before exporting the products to ensure that Taiwan’s butterfly orchids can continue to be sold to the US, he said.
The vendors have been cooperating with the bureau in handling the issue, he said, adding that the council was looking for loans to help the vendors get through the difficulty.
Bureau Director-General Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said that it had asked the US not to suspend imports of butterfly orchids from Taiwan.
Meanwhile, local vendors said that it was their responsibility to protect their business and would step up vigilance to address the problem, she said.
The US on Sept. 7 reported that weeds were detected in 16 batches of butterfly orchids and that it would suspend imports of the product if the problem arises again, Weng Yi-tzu (翁壹姿), head of the bureau’s plant quarantine division, told reporters.
The bureau on Sept. 21 held an emergency meeting with the US, saying that it would take time to make adjustments and solve the problem while some of the products had been shipped, she said.
The US agreed that weeds detected before Sept. 21 would not be counted as a second violation, she added.
The bureau also visited the vendors whose culture media of the butterfly orchids were found to contain weeds to understand the situation and offer advice on improvements, she said.
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