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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Economy & Trade

China's Yellow Croaker Shipment Destroyed in Taiwan Over Drug Residues

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Outcome reported
  • Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered the destruction or return of over 6 tons of Chinese frozen yellow croaker due to illegal veterinary drug residues.
  • The fish contained enrofloxacin, an antibiotic prohibited in food products, exceeding the allowed limits.
  • This incident has led to stricter import inspections for the specific product from China and for the involved importer.

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has intercepted and ordered the destruction or return of 6,270 kilograms of Chinese frozen yellow croaker. The seafood was found to contain enrofloxacin, an antibiotic that is prohibited in food products. The discovery was made during routine border inspections.

The item in question, totaling 6,270 kilograms, needs to be returned or destroyed.

— Liu Fang-mingLiu Fang-ming, director of the FDA's Northern Center for Regional Administration, explained the details of the non-compliant yellow croaker shipment.

The affected shipment was imported by Hui Feng Aggregation Company. According to the FDA, the presence of enrofloxacin exceeded the permissible limits set by the "Animal Drug Residue Standards," which state that the substance should not be detected at all. The agency has now escalated its inspection measures for this specific importer, requiring batch-by-batch checks.

This is not the first time Hui Feng Aggregation Company has faced import issues. The FDA noted that the company has had two previous import batches of the same product from China flagged for non-compliance within the last six months. However, for other Chinese yellow croaker imports, the FDA will maintain its standard random sampling inspection policy, as only two out of 242 batches in the past six months were found to be non-compliant.

Hui Feng Aggregation Company has had two cumulative non-compliant batches of the same product from the same origin in the past six months.

— Liu Fang-mingLiu Fang-ming stated the reason for the increased scrutiny on the importer.

In a separate but related incident, two other shipments from China, consisting of cake boxes and hot-stamped boxes imported by Wan Ching Co., Ltd. and Shen Da Chu Baking Materials Co., Ltd., were also found to be non-compliant. These items contained fluorescent whitening agents, which are prohibited in food contact materials according to the "Hygienic Standards for Food Utensils, Containers, and Packaging." A total of 2,155.4 kilograms of these products were ordered for return or destruction. These importers will also face stricter batch-by-batch inspections.

The presence of fluorescent whitening agents, exceeding evaporation residue and chloroform-soluble matter.

— Liu Fang-mingLiu Fang-ming described the reasons for non-compliance in paper products imported from China.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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