Several batches of oysters and avocados imported from the US have been intercepted by customs officials after being found to contain excessive levels of the heavy metal cadmium, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
Three of the eight shipments that failed inspections this week originated in the US, including 405kg of Pacific oysters and a total of 3,796.8kg of avocados imported by two separate companies, the FDA said at its weekly briefing.
The oysters, imported by Jing Yuan International Trading Co, were found to contain 2 parts per million (ppm) of cadmium, exceeding the regulatory limit of 1ppm for oysters, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
As a result of the violation, the FDA would tighten inspections for Jing Yuan, increasing the sampling rate from the standard 2 to 10 percent to a stricter 20 to 50 percent, Lin said.
In addition, Chiawei Enterprise Co and Ourmart Marketing Co imported 2,531.2kg and 1,265.6kg of substandard avocados respectively.
The shipments were found to contain cadmium levels ranging from 0.08 to 0.12ppm, surpassing Taiwan’s permissible limit of 0.05ppm.
The FDA also raised the inspection rate for the avocado importers to between 20 and 50 percent, Lin said.
All noncompliant products were either returned to their country of origin or destroyed at the border and did not enter the local market, the FDA said.
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