Indonesian sauces and fresh truffles supplied by several Italian companies are to be subject to batch-by-batch border inspections after such products recently failed customs inspections, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday.
Three batches of hot sauces imported by two Taiwanese companies from Indonesia were found to contain excessive levels of sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, and destroyed or returned to the country of origin as stipulated, FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.
Products imported by the two companies — one based in Kaohsiung and the other in Taipei — have been inspected on a batch-by-batch basis at the border since previous imports failed safety inspections.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
The FDA would continue to inspect 100 percent of the two companies’ imports until improvements have been made, Lin said.
So far this year 16 shipments of sauces from Indonesia have been stopped at the border after failing inspections, FDA data showed.
From Monday next week to May 5 next year full inspections would be conducted on all Indonesian sauces, Lin said.
In addition, another two shipments of fresh truffles imported from Italy failed customs inspections after having been found to contain excessive levels of cadmium, a heavy metal, in the wake of a series of similar violations since the beginning of this year, the FDA said.
The two shipments supplied by Geofoods and Sassone were found to contain cadmium at a concentration of 5 milligrams per kilogram and 9 milligrams per kilogram respectively, exceeding the maximum permitted level of 2 milligrams per kilogram, Lin said.
They were returned to the country of origin or destroyed and did not reach the shelves in Taiwan, he added.
The FDA on Aug. 29 introduced random border checks on 50 percent of fresh truffles imported from Italy after seven shipments from the country were found to contain excessive levels of the heavy metal, all from three Italian suppliers — Faye Gasgtronomie Italia, Urbani Tartifi and Tartufi Morra.
At the time, the government informed the Italian Economic, Trade and Cultural Promotion Office and asked for an explanation along with improvement measures by Oct. 16.
No response was received and another notice was issued to the office, with it had been asked to reply to by yesterday, the FDA said.
Lin said the Italian government provided an explanation and presented improvement measures on Oct. 25, saying it would test the products for heavy metals before exporting to Taiwan, and consult with the FDA regarding testing methods and related legal regulations.
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 20, Taiwan imported 96 shipments of fresh truffles from Italy, of which nine had been rejected at the border after being found to contain excessive levels of cadmium, the FDA said.
Truffles supplied by the five Italian firms would now be subject to batch-by-batch inspections, Lin said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS