Customs officials have seized 6,400kg of live Chinese mitten crabs at the border after the batch was found to contain excess levels of dioxins, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
It was the first such seizure in two years, the agency said.
The crabs, imported by Shuo Hsuan International Trading Ltd, was found to contain dioxin at a level of 10.4 picograms per gram (pg/g) wet weight, and dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs) of 10.8pg/g wet weight.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
The levels are much higher than the permissible level of dioxin at 3.5pg/g wet weight, and combined permissible total for dioxins and DL-PCBs at 6.5pg/g wet weight, FDA Northern Center head Chen Ching-yu (陳慶裕) told reporters.
As part of its efforts to step up inspections at the source, the FDA indefinitely suspended applications for import inspections by the aquafarm in Shandong Province where the crabs came from, effective immediately.
Since October last year, the customs has rejected 25 shipments of mitten crabs from China as a result of batch-by-batch inspections at the border, Chen said.
RICE, MANDARINS
Also on the FDA’s 17-item list of seized items were white rice from India, mandarins from South Korea, sea urchin gastrulas from Mexico and fresh strawberries from Japan.
The substandard or polluted food shipments have been destroyed or returned to their country of origin, Chen said.
Last month, six shipments of fresh strawberries imported from Japan by Chuan Yong Fruit Co Ltd were found to contain two pesticides — flonicamid and cyantraniliprole, traces of which are not permitted in strawberries in Taiwan.
Imports of fresh Japanese strawberries have been subject to a 20 to 50 percent random inspection rate since early last year, when such shipments were frequently found to contain high levels of pesticide residue.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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