Taiwan has destroyed 3 tonnes of parsley powder imported from India after the product tested positive for Sudan I, a banned industrial dye, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The shipment was flagged during border inspections and immediately destroyed, FDA Northern Taiwan Management Center Director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) told a weekly news conference on noncompliant products intercepted at the border.
Liu did not say when the shipment arrived, but FDA data showed that between June 1 and Monday last week, Taiwan inspected two batches of dried botanical spices imported from India, one of which failed due to the detection of Sudan dye.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
The importer would be subject to enhanced batch-by-batch inspections, Liu said.
The FDA has mandated testing for Sudan dyes in dried spice plants from India since April 18 last year, a measure that is to remain in place through Nov. 26 next year.
The parsley powder, imported by Taichung-based seasoning supplier Tomax Enterprise Co, was among 15 products listed as noncompliant in the FDA’s latest listing of items rejected at the border.
Other rejected items included guar gum from India, seasoning cubes from Indonesia and white radishes from China, which were found to contain excessive pesticide residues or other contraventions.
All were ordered returned or destroyed.
In a separate case, a 0.4kg batch of Laduree-branded wax paper imported from France was barred after failing a solvent extraction test.
Solvent in the product’s evaporated residue measured 581 parts per million (ppm), far above the regulatory limit of 30ppm for waxed or pulp-based paper products designed to come into direct contact with food.
The FDA said it was the first noncompliant batch in the product category from France in the past six months.
The importer is to face stricter checks, with border sampling rates raised to 20 to 50 percent.
It was also the second consecutive week that a Tomax Enterprise import appeared on the noncompliance list.
Last week, Vietnamese black pepper imported by the company was found to contain pesticide residues exceeding regulatory limits.
Also yesterday, the FDA instructed importers of two brands of chocolate sticks to comply with a recall initiated by Japanese food manufacturer Glico Co.
The imported products include “Pocky Winter Exclusive Chocolate Sticks” (Pocky百奇冬季限定巧克力棒), which expire in June next year, and boxes of “Glico 8-Pack Chocolate Flavor Sticks” (固力果8袋可可風味棒), which expire in May, June and July next year, the FDA said in a statement.
Consumers who have bought the products can contact the responsible company printed on the product labels, FDA official Liao Tzu-ting (廖姿婷) said.
Glico initiated the recall as the cocoa beans used for the products were stored with spices, which affected the flavor, Liao said.
Glico on Monday announced a recall of 20 chocolate products, totaling about 6 million items, Japanese media reported.
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