4 tonnes of Indonesian seblak stopped at border for excessive sweeteners

Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) Four batches of seblak from Indonesia were recently intercepted at Taiwan's borders for containing excessive sweeteners, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday.

The Indonesian crackers, totaling 4,424 kilograms and imported by the same company, were found to contain between 0.1 and 0.24 grams of saccharin per kilogram and between 0.02 and 0.15 grams of cyclamate per kilogram -- both prohibited in such food products -- Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘), director of the TFDA's Northern Taiwan Management Center, told CNA.

Between July 5, 2025, and Jan. 5, 2026, a total of 697 batches of Indonesian crackers were inspected at the border, with 12 batches -- 1.7 percent -- failing to meet Taiwan's standards for preservatives or sweeteners, or found to contain the toxin aflatoxin, according to the TFDA.

As such, crackers from Indonesia will be subject to 100 percent inspection from Jan. 13 to Feb. 12, Liu said.

Meanwhile, a 1,000-kg shipment of lingzhi imported from China was found to contain 0.05 parts per million of the banned pesticide chlorpyrifos. The importer's future shipments will be subject to enhanced inspection rates of 20-50 percent, the agency said.

Another shipment of 3.5 kilograms of empty capsules, also imported from China, was found to contain the banned disinfectant or pesticide ethylene oxide.

Liu said the substance is typically detected in grain imports, adding that this was the first batch of capsules halted over the substance in five years. The importer will also be subject to enhanced inspection rates.

Other imports halted at the border by the TFDA include fried bananas from Indonesia, fresh strawberries from Japan, frozen radish leaves from China, turmeric powder from India, canned tuna from the Philippines, and paper food containers from China, after failing to meet standards for sweeteners, pesticides, preservatives, or dissolution testing.

The imports will all be returned or destroyed, according to the agency.