Up to 3.6 tonnes of pomeloes from Taiwan cleared Malaysian customs on Friday, in the first shipment of Taiwanese pomeloes to Malaysia.
Taiwan-grown pomeloes are popular in domestic and overseas markets for their tender and juicy taste, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said.
The fruit is already exported to Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, it added.
Photo: Taipei Times
The agency began applying for access to the Malaysian market in 2023, compiling data on climate suitability, pests and diseases, and post-harvest handling, while also engaging in nearly two years of negotiations with Malaysian authorities and submitting supplementary documents to meet requirements, the agency said.
In November last year, Malaysia approved imports of Taiwanese pomeloes, provided shipments are accompanied by an import permit and a quarantine certificate issued by the agency, it said.
The 3.6 tonnes shipment was the first batch of Taiwanese pomeloes exported to Malaysia, certified by the agency’s Kaohsiung branch on Sept. 7, it said.
Shipped by sea, the fruit arrived in Malaysia on Thursday and cleared customs the following day after quarantine inspectors confirmed it was free of pests or diseases of concern.
Separately, the ministry’s Agriculture and Food Agency hosted a fruit-based beverage competition for drink shop operators to promote locally grown produce.
Participants were required to use at least one of four designated fruits — guava, banana, avocado or dragon fruit — in their creations. Among the entries, “Banana Dopamine” by Ding Go Tea (叮哥茶飲) won the Popularity Award in a blind tasting by 20 people, blending banana and guava juice with a probiotic milk drink, the ministry said.
The contest aimed to diversify sales channels and boost the value of Taiwanese fruits through collaboration with hand-shaken drink shops, which remain highly popular with consumers, Deputy Director-General Chen Chi-jung (陳啟榮) said at the award ceremony yesterday.
The competition drew 31 entries from 16 participants, with the judging panel selecting eight outstanding products based on local ties, market potential, flavor and mouthfeel, he said.
Most of the winning beverages are expected to be available at participating chain outlets by next month, he added.
To further encourage sales, vendors that use 2 tonnes of locally grown fruit in their beverages would receive a NT$20,000 bonus, with an additional NT$10,000 awarded for every extra tonne, Chen said.
The incentives are projected to generate more than 100,000 servings of fruit-based, hand-shaken drinks, he added.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS