Taipei City Market Office Reports Pesticide Residue Failures in Wholesale Market Vegetables and Fruits; Chili and Celery Most Common

Central News Agency

(Central News Agency reporter Liu Chien-Pang, Taipei 12th) The Taipei City Market Office today announced the results of its April monitoring of pesticide residues in wholesale market vegetables and fruits. A total of 995 samples of vegetables and fruits were tested, of which 942 passed and 53 were non-compliant.

The Market Office mentioned that the main non-compliant items in this round of testing were chili peppers, celery, and peas. All non-compliant products were intercepted and disposed of, with a total weight of 5831 kilograms. Enhanced testing will be conducted on high-risk agricultural products.

The Market Office pointed out that among the 53 non-compliant vegetable and fruit samples, chili peppers were the most common. The main reasons are that chili peppers are a crop that BeiNong (Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co.) continuously strengthens testing on, celery's leaves are prone to absorbing pesticides, and peas are in season, leading to a larger volume of incoming goods and thus more samples tested.

The Market Office stated that the Taipei City First and Second Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Markets are managed by Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co., entrusted by the Taipei City Government. To ensure the safety of fresh vegetables and fruits consumed by the public, pesticide residue tests are conducted daily on fruit and vegetables entering the market for auction, and the test results are determined before auction.

If any fruit or vegetable entering the wholesale market is found to be non-compliant after testing, BeiNong immediately prohibits the transaction of that batch of goods and temporarily suspends the auction of other items of the same type under the same supplier code for that day. Auctions can only resume after the samples are re-tested and found to be compliant.

The Market Office indicated that non-compliant vegetables and fruits will be disposed of. At the same time, their supply will be suspended in accordance with the 'Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co. Wholesale Market Supplier Application Registration and Management Guidelines.'

In addition, to effectively utilize testing capacity, BeiNong will strengthen testing on non-compliant items, report the results to agricultural authorities, notify violating suppliers to make improvements, and inform local county and city governments and agricultural authorities to provide guidance on pesticide use at the source, implementing source management to safeguard food safety in Greater Taipei. (Editor: Chang Ya-Ching) 1150512

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