Strawberries from Japan to remain subject to 100% border checks

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) Fresh strawberries from Japan will remain subject to batch-by-batch border inspections after two more shipments of the fruit were found to contain different types of pesticides, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Tuesday.

According to the agency, the shipments totaling 227.40 kilograms supplied by Toyomarusyouzi Co. and City Seika Narita Shuo Co. will either be returned to the country of origin or destroyed.

Sample testing carried out on Dec. 2 found that the strawberries from Toyomarusyouzi contained 1.2 parts per million (ppm) of acetamiprid, higher than the legal limit of 1.0 ppm, and the banned pesticide acequinocyl-hydroxyl was also detected in the fruit, FDA Deputy Chief Lin Chin-fu (林金富) told CNA.

The strawberries from City Seika Narita Shuo, meanwhile, were determined to have an excessive level of the insecticide flonicamid.

Of the 1,084 batches of Japanese strawberries inspected from Jan. 1 to Dec. 18 this year, 19 failed to meet Taiwan's safety standards, mostly because they were found to have excessive levels of pesticide residue, Lin said.

Due to the ongoing problems, Taiwan will continue to inspect every shipment of strawberries imported from Japan until April 30, 2024, Lin said.

The list of imported items that recently failed safety inspections issued by the FDA on Tuesday showed 12 other imported items that did not meet Taiwan's standards, including white truffles from Italy, split green mung beans from Indonesia, and plastic items from China that included 80 "Beethoven" four-piece chopping board kits.