Imports of three Korean chili powder manufacturers suspended due to pesticides

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) — Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) will suspend imports of chili powder from three South Korean manufacturers whose products were found to contain excessive pesticide residues, it said Tuesday.

The TFDA said imports of its products would be suspended for a month or more.

Between December 24, 2023 and June 24, 2024, according to the TFDA, 13 out of 59 shipments of chili powder from South Korea did not meet the import criteria because they contained too many pesticides. This corresponds to a failure rate of 22.03 percent.

The 13 shipments include four consignments totaling 8,616 kilograms of chili powder from South Korea, which were included in the latest list of items intercepted at Taiwan’s borders released by the TFDA on Tuesday.

TFDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said in a telephone interview that the agency had asked South Korean authorities twice by June 30 for an explanation of the frequent violations and the corrective measures taken, but had not received a response as of Tuesday.

Taiwan is currently applying its strictest standards in controlling chili powder imports, regardless of their place of origin, after Sudan dyes, red chemical dyes banned for use in food products in Taiwan, were discovered in chili powder shipments from China in 2023 and early 2024.

Under these standards, each shipment will be checked for residues of Sudan dyes and pesticides. This practice is expected to continue until March 5, 2025.

Including chili powder from South Korea, the TFDA on Tuesday listed a total of 14 items that had been rejected at the border in recent weeks.

These include shipments of honey chipotle from the United States, black sesame from Paraguay, white radish from China, and white pepper and coriander seeds from Indonesia, all of which contained excessive pesticide residues, according to the TFDA.

Other items included instant vegetarian rice noodles from Vietnam that contained a banned preservative, activated acid clay (used to refine fats and oils) from China, and frozen tuna roe from Korea that contained excessive amounts of heavy metals.