Imported U.S. oysters, avocados blocked at border over heavy metal levels

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Several batches of oysters and avocados imported from the United States have been intercepted by customs officials after being found to contain excessive levels of the heavy metal cadmium, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday.

According to the TFDA's weekly briefing, three of the eight shipments that failed inspection this week originated in the U.S., including 405 kilograms of Pacific oysters and a total of 3,796.8 kilograms of avocados imported by two separate companies.

TFDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said the oysters, imported by Jing Yuan International Trading Co., were found to contain 2 parts per million (ppm) of cadmium, exceeding the regulatory limit of 1 ppm for oysters.

As a result of the violation, the TFDA will tighten inspections for Jing Yuan, increasing the sampling rate from the standard 2-10 percent to a stricter 20-50 percent, Lin said.

In addition, Chiawei Enterprise Co. and Ourmart Marketing Co. each imported 2,531.2 kilograms and 1,265.6 kilograms of substandard avocados, respectively. These shipments were found to contain cadmium levels ranging from 0.08 to 0.12 ppm, surpassing Taiwan's permissible limit of 0.05 ppm.

In response, the TFDA also raised the inspection rate for the avocado importers to between 20-50 percent, Lin said.

All non-compliant products were either returned to their country of origin or destroyed at the border and did not enter the local market, according to the TFDA.