A shipment of bananas that was rejected by Japan early this month might have been contaminated by nearby fields, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
Japan Customs had destroyed the shipment of 450 crates of bananas after tests showed that the fruit contained 0.02 parts per million (ppm) of Decis, an insecticide better known as Dimiening (第滅寧) in Taiwan, COA Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) told a news conference.
The Japanese legal standard is that no residue of the substance should be detected, Chen said, adding that Japanese instruments can detect up to 0.01ppm of residue.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
As the local standard for Decis residue is 0.2ppm, the council believes that the shipment to Japan might have been exposed to insecticide residues from neighboring fields, he added.
Since the tests revealed only a small amount of the substance, the council is confident that Japan would not increase testing protocols on imports of Taiwanese bananas, he said, urging farmers not to worry.
Taiwanese bananas are already under heightened scrutiny in Japan after a 750-crate shipment last month was found to contain 0.12ppm of Pyraclostrobin, or six times over the legal limit.
Pyraclostrobin is a fungicide used to treat plant anthrax, among other conditions.
That prompted Japan Customs to raise the banana testing protocol from level one to level two.
This means 30 percent of the fruit is tested per shipment, instead of the previous 3 to 5 percent per shipment, Chen said.
Should the Japanese invoke “level three” food safety protocols, 100 percent of each banana shipment would be tested for chemical residues, which would significantly affect the trade because it would take longer to clear customs, he said.
To avoid this scenario, the council has enhanced the regulation and inspection of fruit farms exporting to Japan and provided vital assistance to ensure product quality, he said.
The council does not rule out conducting its own tests on banana exports before they are shipped, or other measures to a better linkage between exporters and fruit farm owners, he added.
Asked about local media reports about a shortage of agricultural packaging materials, Chen said that demand for cardboard packaging has surged as manufacturers and other businesses pick up in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council has taken steps to secure packaging materials for the 16 hardest-hit farmers’ cooperatives from the nation’s leading paper manufacturers, he said, adding that a platform would be created to distribute packaging materials to farmers.
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