Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) on Wednesday said his ministry had “no timetable” for deciding whether to ease a ban on residues of two pesticides commonly used on Japanese strawberries, appearing to contradict remarks made by another senior health official last week.
Asked about the issue by reporters, Wang said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had received a request from Japan to set maximum residue limits for the chemicals chlorfenapyr and flonicamid, but warned that such reviews often take at least three years.
The process, which includes soliciting expert opinion on the matter, is ongoing, and there is no timetable for making an announcement, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Health
Wang’s remarks came after FDA Director-General Wu Show-mei (吳秀梅) sparked controversy on Wednesday last week by saying that her agency would announce a policy proposal on the matter within two weeks.
Wu’s announcement drew strong pushback from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which accused the government of turning a blind eye to potential health risks to curry favor with Japan.
Groups in Miaoli County’s Dahu Township (大湖), Taiwan’s main strawberry-growing region, also said that it was unreasonable to allow pesticides that are not authorized for use in Taiwan on imports, and risked turning the public against strawberries in general.
According to the FDA, Japanese exporters submitted the request in February to replace the ban on residues of the two pesticides with maximum residue limits, in response to multiple residue-related seizures of Japanese strawberries at the border.
Wang on Wednesday said that Taiwan has set maximum residue limits for 400 types of pesticides and herbicides for domestic food products and 391 types for imports.
Of the pesticide residue limits approved for imported foods, 302 were set in the past five years, and 89 of them were set in response to requests from Japan, he said.
Pesticides without defined maximum residue limits are banned by default, he said.
Chlorfenapyr is used for crop protection against a variety of insects and mites, while flonicamid is used to control aphids, thrips and whiteflies.
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