Quarantine standards for imported potatoes have not been not lowered, and potatoes can be inspected individually at processing plants, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Hu Jong-i (胡忠一) said yesterday.
Hu’s remarks came after the Ministry of Agriculture revised imported plant product quarantine regulations, including quarantine protocol for processing potatoes imported from the US.
The change has raised concerns that imported potatoes with solanine — a toxin that could cause vomiting, diarrhea or death in humans — might enter the domestic market.
Photo: CNA
Processing potatoes imported from the US would not be allowed into the domestic supply chain if they are sprouted, moldy or rotten, even if their solanine levels are within the safe amount of 200 parts per million (ppm), he told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee.
US processing potatoes cannot be exported to Taiwan if soil, sprout, or any of the eight banned pests or diseases are spotted before they arrive in Taiwan, he said.
Importers must apply for quarantine inspection upon arrival of processing potatoes for soil, sprouts and the eight banned pests or diseases, as well as declare that the potato shipment is for processing only, Hu said.
That is the same quarantine approach for potato imports as before, he said.
Quarantine personnel would inform the Food and Drug Administration about sprouted potatoes, which would need further solanine testing, Hu said, adding that the potatoes would be banned from entering the food processing supply chain if they have excessive solanine.
Even processing potatoes with safe solanine levels would be returned or destroyed along with the other potatoes in the same shipping containers, he said.
The whole shipment could also be sealed and moved to a quarantine zone, with the ministry’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency supervising a container by container inspection, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) said shipments with sprouted potatoes should be returned altogether, as solanine in a potato could contaminate the others in the same batch.
In response, Hu said that sprouted potatoes do not necessarily contain solanine and sprouts within 5cm are acceptable by international standards.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said if a potato is found to have more than 200ppm of solanine, the whole shipment would be returned.
Responding to KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu’s (李彥秀) concerns about the effectiveness of secondary quarantine inspection at processing plants, Hu said that imported potatoes are inspected at customs at a sampling rate of 60 percent, higher than the 5 percent to 10 percent in most other countries.
Quarantine personnel who fail to conduct inspection in accordance with regulations would be fined up to NT$150,000, in line with the Plant Protection and Quarantine Act (植物防疫檢疫法), he added.
Asked by KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) about whether it is feasible to inspect imported potatoes one by one, Hu said it is possible at processing plants.
Potato imports are about 27,000 tonnes a year, equivalent to nearly 100 million potatoes, he said.
Meanwhile, National Taiwan Ocean University food science professor Chen Tai-yuan (陳泰源) in a statement issued by Science Media Center Taiwan said the newly implemented protocol focuses on enhancing food safety via multiple inspections.
It replaced one-dimensional appearance inspection standards, such as sprout length, with a multi-layered preventive framework that integrates source treatment, documentation verification, export quarantine, border inspection and elimination at processing plants, he said.
Such an approach aligns with international risk-oriented management practices and could ensure food product safety in a more systemic way, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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