The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday said that it plans to relax restrictions on four pesticides commonly used in Japan on strawberries.
The measure is being taken in the wake of Japanese strawberry imports being frequently stopped during customs inspections at the border for failing to meet the nation’s pesticide residue standards.
As a result, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association asked the FDA to ease its ban on the four pesticides — acequinocyl, chlorfenapyr, flonicamid and mefentriflucon azole — when used on strawberries.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The allowed chemical residual levels would be raised from zero to 1 part per million (ppm) for acequinocyl, to 0.5ppm for chlorfenapyr, to 0.7ppm for flonicamid and to 1.5ppm for mefentriflucon azole, the FDA said.
The drafted revisions to permissible residue levels of the pesticides on strawberries adopted by the agency were made public as an advanced notification on Wednesday, with public feedback to be gathered over a 60-day period.
The easing of the ban on the pesticide residues is expected to significantly clear obstacles for Japanese strawberry imports, which have been involved in multiple breaches since late last year.
On Jan. 9, the FDA imposed a one-month ban, its harshest penalty, on five Japanese strawberry suppliers after 10 out of 216 shipments, or 4.63 percent, failed border checks since November last year.
FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) told the Central News Agency that the decision was made after the agency evaluated the climate and environment conditions in Japan, and deemed the use of such chemicals to be proper.
In addition, requests to lift the level for permissible strawberry pesticides came not only from the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in 2020, but also German-owned chemical company BASF Taiwan in 2021 and the South Korean Mission in Taipei in 2022, Lin said.
Currently, the agency is collecting opinions, Lin said, adding that there is no schedule as to when the planned pesticide standard revisions would be enacted.
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