Trace but legal levels of cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, were detected in a batch of mushroom powder imported from Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
FDA Deputy Director Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said cesium-137 was detected at a level of 10.6 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg) in a batch of mushroom powder that was sent for testing on Nov. 17.
Although that is considered a trace amount and within permitted limits, the FDA, in compliance with regulations passed by the legislature, gave the company importing the mushroom powder guidance on how to return or destroy it, but allowed the company to decide what to do with it, Lin said.
Photo: CNA
The maximum permitted levels for cesium-134 and cesium-137 combined are 10Bq/kg for beverages, 50Bq/kg for baby food and formula and 100Bq/kg for other food products.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 3, five types of food products imported from Japan, including green tea powder, matcha powder, matsutake mushroom poweder and lingonberry extract, were found to contain trace but legal levels of cesium-137, FDA data showed.
After the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, Taiwan banned imports from the Japanese prefectures of Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki and Chiba for 11 years due to radiation contamination fears.
On Feb. 21 last year, the blanket ban was replaced with a testing and certification system for imports from those locations, and the results are reported weekly by the FDA.
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