Wed, Feb 21, 2024 page3

• Mullet roe stopped at border over toxin

  PORK CASE: The FDA is to discuss a Taisugar product that tested positive for cimbuterol today, with the health minister saying lab contamination could not be ruled out

  • By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
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  A batch of mullet roe imported from China was the first ever found in a border inspection to contain malachite green, a synthetic dye that is carcinogenic and genotoxic, a report released yesterday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

  Forty-eight products failed inspections, including mullet roe, paprika powder, spatulas, large bowls with lids, rubber lids, wolfberries, burdock roots, roasted walnuts, frozen diced shallots and tea shovels from China, the border inspection report showed.

  They also include strawberries, cantaloupes, plates and utensils from Japan; fried fusilli, cireng chips, dried fish, frozen fish, nutmeg powder and bay leaves from Indonesia; frozen pangasius and cookies from Vietnam; truffles from France; grapes from South Korea; and nectarines from Australia.

  

  Frozen Chinese mullet roe containing malachite green is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration

  The fresh fruit, paprika powder, wolfberries, frozen diced shallots and bay leaves had excessive pesticide residue, the containers and utensils failed dissolution tests, some snacks had banned sweeteners or bleaching agents, and the frozen or dried fish products had excessive levels of heavy metals or veterinary drug residue.

  All the products that failed border inspections were disposed of or returned, the FDA said.

  The batch of frozen mullet roe from China that contained malachite green weighed 14,363kg, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said yesterday.

  It is the first time the substance has been found in mullet roe during a border inspection, Lin said.

  Malachite green is usually used in aquaculture as an antifungal agent, mainly for ornamental fish, and is prohibited in edible aquatic products, he said, adding that the FDA would increase inspections of products from the importer.

  Yen Tsung-hai (顏宗海), director of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Clinical Toxicology, said that malachite green possesses antimicrobial properties, but it and its main metabolite are carcinogenic.

  Animal studies show that ingesting it in large amounts can lead to an increased risk of liver cancer and thyroid dysfunction, Yen said.

  Separately, the FDA said it would hold a specialist meeting today to discuss a case in which the Taichung Health Bureau on Feb. 2 reported that a specimen of Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar) pork had tested positive for cimbuterol, a banned beta-agonist.

  The FDA on Monday said that 84 samples of Taisugar’s pork products tested by local governments from Feb. 2 to Monday all tested negative for beta-agonists.

  Of the samples tested, 12 were of the same product (Taisugar’s “Pork Boston Butt, Sliced”) and the same batch, meaning they came from the same pig farm and slaughterhouse, were slaughtered on the same day, and were sliced and packaged at the same factory, it said.

  Twenty-five samples were from the same product but from different batches, and 47 were from other Taisugar pork products, it said.

  At the Legislative Yuan yesterday, reporters asked Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) to comment on Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang’s (王必勝) Facebook post saying that hundreds of specimens from across the country have all tested negative for cimbuterol, so the possibility that the original pork specimen was contaminated cannot be ruled out.

  Hsueh said that the original specimen might have been contaminated in the laboratory, so when the FDA received a piece of the original for retesting, it also tested positive for cimbuterol on Feb. 7, but that is only a hypothesis.

  Additional reporting by CNA
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