About 1,228 tonnes of spring wheat imported from the US have been seized at the Taiwan border after the product was found to contain excessive levels of a harmful fungal toxin known to cause kidney damage, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said today.
The shipment, imported by 10 local companies from the same US manufacturer early last month, was found to contain 7 micrograms of ochratoxin A per kilogram — exceeding the legal limit of 5 micrograms per kilogram, the FDA said, adding that it has issued an order for all of the contaminated wheat to be returned or destroyed.
Ochratoxin A can impair kidney function and may also cause acute renal failure or kidney tissue damage if consumed in high amounts, the agency said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘), director of the FDA’s Northern Taiwan Management Center, said the wheat arrived in bulk on a cargo vessel and was stored in four separate holds.
Although only one hold tested above the legal limit for ochratoxin A, the entire shipment was rejected as inspectors could not determine which importer had purchased the contaminated batch, Liu said.
The 10 importers, all first-time offenders, would now be subject to stricter inspections, with the random inspection rate raised from 20 percent to 50 percent for their future shipments, Liu said.
Other rejected products in the latest inspection list included fresh durian from Vietnam and frozen grouper fillets from the Philippines, which tested positive for excessive pesticide and heavy metal residues respectively, the FDA said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS