The government should be transparent about easing pesticide and fungicide restrictions, a Consumers’ Foundation official said yesterday, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eased some regulations at the request of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association.
The agency in February added maximum residue limits (MRLs) for five types of pesticides and fungicides used on seven types of agricultural products.
The FDA last week confirmed that the association had applied for relaxed regulations on chlorfenapyr and flonicamid, as strawberries imported from Japan were frequently being found to have excessive residues of the pesticides.
Photo copies by Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
A specialist panel convened by the agency agreed to raise the limits for the pesticides, and the agency would publicize an advanced notice for the planned revision with a 60-day public comment period, it said.
The MRLs on five types of pesticides and fungicides were raised in Feb. 17 amendments to the Standards for Pesticide Residue Limits in Foods (農藥殘留容許量標準).
They include thiacloprid residue on tea leaves and grapes; isopyrazam residue on apples; dinotefuran residue on perilla flowers; flutianil residue on cantaloupes, oriental melons and strawberries; and benthiavalicarb isopropyl residue on grapes.
Imported agricultural products with residue levels below the MRLs would pass border inspections and be permitted for sale in Taiwan.
Consumers’ Foundation deputy chairperson Hsu Tse-yu (徐則鈺) said that the government should be open and transparent about easing restrictions, especially when it includes fungicides that have never been approved for use in Taiwan.
The FDA should explain why they were banned, if comprehensive evaluations were made before revising the regulations and what the conclusions of those evaluations were, so that consumers can feel safe consuming the products, he said.
As the FDA said that lonicamid or chlorfenapyr are already used on other agricultural products and it planned to only add MRLs for strawberries, the foundation hopes the agency will publicize its meeting minutes, so the public can understand its assessment and decisionmaking process, Hsu said.
In other developments, the Kaohsiung Department of Health on Friday fined Costco Taiwan NT$7.5 million (US$244,770) after a mixed berry product sold by the retailer tested positive for hepatitis A.
The department said it decided to impose the heavier penalty under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), because of the scale, potential severity of infections and related factors.
Bags of the Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend imported from Chile, which the department last month ordered to be removed from shelves and destroyed, were sold to about 2,400 people in Kaohsiung, it said.
The department on Friday last week fined Costco NT$300,000 for failing to provide a timely list of customers who bought the potentially contaminated frozen berry mix.
More than 17,000kg of the product had already been sold in 1.81kg bags by the time hepatitis A was found in a batch of the berries, the FDA said on Sunday last week.
The case was first brought to the attention of the FDA by the US FDA, which started recalling frozen berry and food products in March after five hepatitis A cases were reported in the US.
The cases in the US prompted the FDA to heighten its border inspection protocols, leading to the April 10 discovery that a Costco batch of Kirkland products containing a mix of frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries tested positive for the virus.
Additional reporting by Cheng Wei-chi and CNA
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS