A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit.
Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all imported food items that fail the border tests, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
The agency would conduct shipment-by-shipment inspections of the basil pesto imported by Costco from the same place of origin and with the same serial number, Lin said.
From Sept. 4 last year to Monday last week, the FDA conducted border inspections on 425 shipments of sauces from the US, weighing a combined 1,609.53 tonnes, the agency said.
Seven shipments tested positive for ethylene oxide, it said.
Meanwhile, two shipments of fresh strawberries, both imported by New Taipei City-based Fruit Paradise Trading Co from Japan, were held back after being found to contain excessive amounts of pesticides.
Tests found that the strawberries contained traces of mepanipyrim, bifenazate, flonicamid and fludioxonil in concentrations of 1.1 parts per million (ppm), 2.7ppm, 0.02ppm and 2.1ppm respectively.
The two shipments of strawberries were from the same company in Nagasaki, and imports of strawberries from that company would be suspended for a month, Lin said.
Over the past six months, the FDA tested 676 shipments of fresh Japanese strawberries at the border, with 30 failing inspections, mostly due to excessive pesticide residue, Lin said.
From June 1 last year, all fresh strawberry imports from Japan have been subject to shipment-by-shipment inspections, which would continue until at least April 30 next year, Lin said.
Apart from the strawberries and the basil pesto, 11 other imports of food items failed border inspections from Jan. 16 to Feb. 23, FDA data showed.
The shipments included mung beans from Myanmar, curry powder from Japan, fresh nectarines from Australia and juice concentrate from Malaysia.
The mung beans, curry powder and nectarines were found to have excessive pesticide residue, while the juice concentrate had excessive amounts of sulfur dioxide, a chemical that can be used as a bleaching agent, FDA data showed.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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