Japanese dried fish intercepted at border

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday that it has intercepted a batch of dried fish products from Japan containing excessive amounts of Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a carcinogenic compound.

Speaking with local media, TFDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said that the acceptable amount of the compound allowed in smoked fish in Taiwan is 2 micrograms (μg) per kilo.

The batch of Japan's dried Pacific saury product, packaged as "Dried Sanma-Bushi 1kg," contained 80.6μg of BaP per kilogram, approximately 40 times over Taiwan's legal limit, Lin said.

As a result, a total of 50 kilograms of the dried fish have either been destroyed or returned, the TFDA said.

Lin said the incident marked the first time in six months that the importer of the fish product has violated TFDA regulations.

Due to the infringement, border checks upon the importer will increase from the normal frequency of 2-10 percent to 20-50 percent, he added.

According to the administration's "Drug and Food Safety Weekly Letter," BaP has been categorized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).

Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌), head of the Department of Occupational Medicine and Clinical Toxicology at Taipei's Veterans General Hospital, explained that in animal trials, inhaling BaP triggered lung cancer.

Consumption of the compound can also lead to gastrointestinal cancer, Yang said.

The compound tends to be generated when food is fried or grilled above 350 degrees Celsius, but as a result of the metabolic capabilities of humans, the risk of cancer will only be present after prolonged exposure.

Aside from the Japanese fish product, the TFDA also said in its latest update that it had flagged 16 other products at the border for not passing Taiwan's safety qualifications.

Other products either returned or destroyed include a brand of Japanese bamboo chopsticks, a line of South Korean cutting boards and hot sauce from Indonesia.