Macau’s authorities should provide evidence for claims that SARS-CoV-2 was detected on mangoes from Taiwan, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday.
The Chinese-language Macau Daily yesterday reported that a batch of mangoes from Taiwan was destroyed at the border after tests on Wednesday showed that the fruit carried traces of SARS-CoV-2.
The Macau Municipal Affairs Bureau implemented a one-week ban on products from the exporter that are from the same place as the mangoes, the newspaper said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The report follows a ban by authorities in mainland China on mackerel from Taiwan.
The Chinese General Administration of Customs on Thursday last week said that it found residue of the virus on the packaging of frozen horse mackerel imported from Taiwan.
COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) yesterday said that there is no scientific basis for the idea that COVID-19 can be transmitted from plants to humans.
Moreover, tests conducted in Taiwan on the mangoes had yielded negative results, Chen said.
China is the only country in the world that tests imported agricultural goods for SARS-CoV-2, he said, adding that it has made unfounded assertions about finding the virus on packaging of Taiwanese fish exports.
The US and other Western countries have lodged complaints about similar treatment by Beijing, calling them unfair trade practices, he said.
Taiwanese mangoes must obtain a quarantine certificate to be sold in Macau, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine division head Weng Yi-tzu (翁壹姿) said.
Food and Drug Administration Director Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) also called on Macau authorities to present evidence to support the claims.
Taiwan has sold 0.94 tonnes of mangoes to Macau so far this year, COA data showed.
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