TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found residue of a banned chemical on a shipment of strawberries about to be imported from Japan for the 25th time in the past six months, reports said Tuesday (May 16).
In the latest case, 180 kilograms of strawberries were stopped before they entered the country and rejected to be sent back or destroyed, CNA reported. The fruit showed 0.14 parts per million of the pesticide cyantraniliprole.
The chemical substance was allowed on tea leaves, apples, and cherries in Taiwan, but not on strawberries, the FDA said. In the meantime, the Council of Agriculture (COA) was still reviewing an application by Japan to allow the presence of residues of the pesticides chlorpenafyr and flonicamid on strawberries.
Imported berries have come under closer scrutiny as inspectors recently found the hepatitis A virus on frozen blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries of the Kirkland Signature brand imported by Costco Taiwan.
