A batch of chanterelle mushrooms from Lithuania was found to contain traces of radioactive residue exceeding the legal limit and was rejected at the border, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The batch of mushrooms was found to contain 140.1 becquerels per kilogram of cesium-137, but the legal limit is 100 becquerels per kilogram, the FDA said.
The presence of cesium-137 was due to artificial contamination, indicating pollution in the area in which the mushrooms were cultivated, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said in a telephone interview.
Photo Courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
Although this was the first time chanterelle mushrooms from Lithuania have not complied with import regulations, the FDA would use the strictest methods when monitoring and inspecting imports of chanterelle mushrooms from the country, the agency said.
The same would also apply to chanterelle mushrooms from France, which twice last year failed to comply with the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), the agency added.
Meanwhile, two batches of seasoning and condiments imported from the US, including a sirloin seasoning and Classico Italian Sausage sauce, were rejected for containing ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic substance that is banned in Taiwan, the FDA said.
Overall, 10 batches of seasoning and condiments from the US have failed to comply with Taiwanese import laws over the past six months, it said.
The FDA said that on Tuesday last week it asked US authorities to explain the failures and propose ways to improve by Sept. 5.
Such imports from the US are now subject to more through inspections, the FDA said.
Eleven other items were seized at the border, including oranges from Japan, Acerola cherry extract from China, and Danji cucumber slices from South Korea, as they failed to meet standards for reasons including excessive pesticide residue or the presence of additives, it added.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS