A shipment of beef tongues imported from the US was intercepted at Taiwan’s border after being found to contain a parasite that commonly infects animals, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported yesterday.
A batch of oysters also imported from the US was seized at the border for containing an excessive amount of the heavy metal cadmium, it added.
The two items were among 40 imported items intercepted at the border in the past few weeks for containing excessive or banned pesticides, or failing to meet import requirements, including asparagus from Vietnam and Earl Grey tea from Hong Kong, a weekly list of intercepted items published by the agency yesterday showed.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
All the intercepted shipments were returned to their country of origin or destroyed at the border, it said.
A shipment of frozen beef tongues weighing 9.66kg imported by Taoyuan-based Ben Harvest Co was found to be infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. The product was supplied by the US company Swift Beef, the FDA said.
According to the Sanitation Standards for General Foods, no parasites are permitted in general foods.
The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
It was the first time in the past six months that a parasite was found in a shipment of beef tongues, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
All imports of US beef tongues, testicles and hanger tender are inspected batch by batch on arrival since Taiwan relaxed limitations on imports of US beef and beef products in 2009.
Taiwan suspended the import of beef and lamb products from the US following the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the country in December 2003.
In addition, a batch of US oysters weighing 477kg imported by Taipei-based New Fairy Co was seized at the border for containing 2mg/kg of cadmium, higher than the permitted level of 1mg/kg.
As the importer has a record of contravening import regulations, the sampling rate for its imports was raised to 20 to 50 percent following the earlier infraction.
With the latest breaches, Lin said the FDA would put the company’s imports under batch-by-batch inspections.
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