100% border checks to remain on strawberries from Japan

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) Fresh strawberries from Japan will remain subject to batch-by-batch border inspections after a new shipment of the fruit from the neighboring country was recently found to contain a banned pesticide, Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday.

According to the administration, the shipment totaling 24 kilograms supplied by Momofuku Shoji Co. will either be returned to the country of origin or destroyed.

Sample testing carried out on April 17 found that the strawberries from the Japanese supplier contained 0.04 parts per million (ppm) of acrinathrin, a synthetic pyrethroid that has a high insecticidal activity against a range of insects including mites.

Acrinathrin is a banned pesticide that cannot be used on strawberries in Taiwan, TFDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said.

Of the 812 batches of Japanese strawberries inspected from Oct. 29, 2023 to April 29 this year, 32 failed to meet Taiwan’s safety standards, mostly because they were found to have excessive levels of pesticide residue, Lin said.

Since June 1 last year, fresh strawberries from Japan have been subject to 100 percent checks at the border, a measure that was supposed to be lifted at the end of April, Lin said.

However, because shipments of the fruit continue to fail Taiwan’s safety inspections, he said the country will continue to inspect every shipment of imported Japanese strawberries until Dec. 31.

The list of imported items that recently failed safety inspections issued by the TFDA on Tuesday showed 13 other imported items that did not meet Taiwan’s standards, including black sesame seeds from Myanmar, fresh broccoli from Vietnam, and frozen mullet roe from Japan.

A shipment of Japanese mullet roe totaling 13,370 kg was found to contain 4.1 parts per billion (ppb) of crystal violet, a type of triarylmethane dye that poses a risk of cancer and is banned for use in seafood, Lin said.

This dye is similar to malachite green except it has a different color, but both are carcinogenic and can only be used in pet fish, Lin said.