The government should examine oysters imported from Vietnam batch by batch after an initial inspection found residual inorganic arsenic exceeding acceptable levels, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said on Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it has flagged Vietnamese oysters as a category 2 inspection item.
Inspections conducted in March found that at least two batches of oysters had more than five times the acceptable level of residual inorganic arsenic, Lin said.
Photo: Chen Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Domestic sellers started importing Vietnamese oysters in about 2017, as they have a higher profit margin than Taiwanese-grown oysters, he said.
Imports of Vietnamese oysters have increased from 150 tonnes in 2017 to 3,000 tonnes last year, while domestic oyster production dropped from 23,000 tonnes to 18,000 tonnes, he said.
Imported oysters do not have origin labels, and the public would find it difficult to identify the source of oysters if the government does not identify them as a potential threat to Taiwan’s food safety, Lin said.
Chronic consumption of inorganic arsenic can lead to organ failure, and arsenic poisoning is a common cause of blackfoot disease, he said.
FDA North Area Management Center Deputy Director-General Lin Hsu-yang (林旭陽) said that Taiwan has three separate inspection stages: source management, border inspections and domestic inspections.
All imported goods must arrive with a certificate from health authorities in the area of origin, he said.
Border inspections have three levels: routine, more frequent and batch-by-batch inspections, he said.
Vietnamese oysters are now listed as requiring more frequent inspections, he said.
FDA South Area Management Center Deputy Director-General Tsai Chia-fen (蔡佳芬) said the Executive Yuan has convened a cross-agency task force to investigate the issue, adding that the team is reaching out to importers and domestic oyster farmers.
Inspections of 107 farms and importers from December 2021 to December last year has not shown any evidence that importers were attempting to pass off imported Vietnamese oysters as raised in Taiwan, she said.
The FDA would continue to work with business owners and importers to label their products correctly, she said.
Fisheries Research Institute aquaculture processing division head Tsai Hui-chun (蔡慧君) said that Taiwanese-grown oysters were the same species as those from Vietnam and it is difficult to tell them apart.
The institute has established a data archive that could help analyze the oysters, which could provide a basis for the task force to tell local and imported oysters apart, she said.
A Keelung high school on Saturday night apologized for using a picture containing a Chinese flag on the cover of the senior yearbook, adding that it has recalled the books and pledged to provide students new ones before graduation on Thursday. Of 309 Affiliated Keelung Maritime Senior High School of National Taiwan Ocean University graduates, 248 had purchased the yearbook. Some students said that the printer committed an outrageous error in including the picture, while others said that nobody would notice such a small flag on the cover. Other students said that they cared more about the photographs of classmates and what was
GOING INTERNATIONAL: Rakuten Girls squad leader Ula Shen said she was surprised that baseball fans outside of Taiwan not only knew of them, but also knew their names Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics on Saturday hosted its first Taiwanese Heritage Day event at the Oakland Coliseum with a performance by Taiwanese cheerleading squad the Rakuten Girls and a video message from Vice President William Lai (賴清德). The Rakuten Girls, who are the cheerleaders for the CPBL’s Rakuten Monkeys, performed in front of a crowd of more than 2,000 people, followed by a prerecorded address by Lai about Taiwan’s baseball culture and democratic spirit. Taiwanese pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸), who was signed by the Athletics earlier this year, was also present. Mizuki Lin (林襄), considered a “baseball cheerleading goddess” by Taiwanese
WAY OF THE RUKAI: ‘Values deemed worthy often exist amid discomfort, so when people go against the flow, nature becomes entwined with our lives,’ a student said “Run, don’t walk” after your dreams, Nvidia cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) told National Taiwan University (NTU) graduates yesterday, as several major universities held in-person graduation ceremonies for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. “What will you create? Whatever it is, run after it. Run, don’t walk. Remember, either you’re running for food, or you are running from becoming food. Oftentimes, you can’t tell which. Either way, run,” he said. Huang was one of several tech executives addressing graduating students at Taiwanese universities. National Chengchi University held two ceremonies, with alumnus Patrick Pan (潘先國), who is head of Taiwan
A 14-legged giant isopod is the highlight of a new dish at a ramen restaurant in Taipei and it has people lining up — both for pictures and for a bite from this bowl of noodles. Since “The Ramen Boy” launched the limited-edition noodle bowl on Monday last week, declaring in a social media post that it had “finally got this dream ingredient,” more than 100 people have joined a waiting list to dine at the restaurant. “It is so attractive because of its appearance — it looks very cute,” said the 37-year-old owner of the restaurant, who wanted to be
RSS