A shipment of Chinese mitten crabs from China was found to contain dioxin concentrations 2.6 times higher than the safety limit, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.
The 14.7-tonne consignment of tainted crabs was intercepted at the border early last month and had been returned or destroyed before they could reach local markets, it said.
Samples of the crabs showed a dioxin level equivalent to 9.2 picograms per gram (pg/g) wet weight and polychlorinated biphenyl level equivalent to 10.6pg/g, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
These values exceeded the safety limits by 2.6 and 1.6 times respectively, he said.
Taiwan had certified 31 China-based aquafarms for exports of Chinese mitten crabs to the nation and failing a safety test would result in decertification, he said, adding that this means the list of authorized importers has dwindled to 16.
Citing FDA regulations, Lin said imported Chinese mitten crabs are tested for 65 types of substances, including veterinary drugs, heavy metals and dioxin.
The crabs can be temporarily stored in designated facilities if testing takes more than five days, he added.
Imported parcels that failed safety inspection are returned to their place of origin or destroyed, Lin said.
The nation’s safety mechanisms for imported Chinese mitten crabs are well-established and the public can safely consume any that had been allowed for sales domestically, he said.
According to Fisheries Agency data, China exported 387.5 tonnes of mitten crabs to Taiwan in 2017 before widely reported scandals involving dioxin contamination in the following year reduced the amount to 200.7 tonnes.
China in 2019 exported 174.3 tonnes of the crabs and more than 250 tonnes each year from 2020 to 2022, when 6.4 tonnes were rejected for containing excessive dioxin levels, and another 211.5 tonnes last year, the records showed.
Experts warn that dioxin consists of 419 chemical compounds and is a confirmed carcinogen.
Short-term exposure to high doses can cause skin disorders and liver damage, while long-term low-dose exposure might increase the risk of cancer, damage the immune system and pose risks to pregnant women, experts said.
Additional reporting by CNA
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS