Foreign manufacturers of a food import flagged for a serious safety infraction would be from tomorrow at the earliest banned from exporting to Taiwan on the first offense, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday, amid a spike in food products from China failing border inspections.
Current regulations require several stages of testing according to risk level, with a ban only implemented if conditions are not improved after warnings.
The zero-tolerance policy announced this week is the strictest import food safety standard the FDA has ever initiated.
Photo courtesy of Chiayi City Public Health Bureau
It comes amid an increase in food imports flagged as having traces of seriously harmful additives, particularly from China.
Of particular concern are chili powder imports with traces of Sudan III, a red industrial dye banned from use in food processing that is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Category 3 carcinogen.
Earlier this week, prosecutors questioned nine employees implicated in a chili powder case discovered last month, with the Yunlin District Court on Tuesday approving the detention of one employee suspected of falsifying a safety report to cover up the presence of Sudan III.
A Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson said the head of research and development at spice vendor Chiseng Hong Ltd (濟生), a man surnamed Kuo (郭), has been ordered to be detained, while a subordinate, a woman surnamed Kuo, has been released on NT$50,000 bail.
The two are suspected of contravening the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) by falsifying a report on a seasoning powder from quality testing company SGS Taiwan (SGS台灣), saying it did not contain Sudan III.
The employees allegedly falsified the report to prevent the product’s clients, including retailer PX Mart Co (全聯實業), from thinking the product was not safe.
The seasoning was sourced from New Taipei City-based raw material dealer Bao Hsin Enterprises Co (保欣企業) and supplied by Chinese company Sanhe Drug Co (三禾藥業).
The case of Sudan dyes came to light when the Chiseng product was tested by Yunlin County health authorities on Jan. 30.
The discovery led to random inspections that have so far found four batches of problematic chili powder supplied by Bao Hsin, the FDA said, adding that 21,235kg of the powder had been recalled as of Monday.
The agency’s latest announcement of flagged imports on Tuesday showed another batch of chili powder, mushroom seasoning and dried bitter melon from China with excessive pesticide levels.
Additional reporting by CNA
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS