Costco offers one after another! Carcinogens were detected in raw shrimp, cadmium in avocado exceeded the standard, and strawberry and blueberry pesticides exceeded the standard

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The Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare today (28) released a list of border inspection irregularities, including a number of violations of Costco products from Costco, a well-known American retailer. Imported avocados were found to have excessive levels of cadmium for two consecutive weeks, while frozen raw shrimp imported from Thailand detected banned nitrofuran metabolites in Taiwan. On the other hand, the best supermarket was found that the blueberry prednisone imported from the United States exceeded the standard, and the imported sweet pepper flunizide from Canada exceeded the standard.

Yan Zonghai, director of the Clinical Toxicology Center of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, points out that cadmium is a primary carcinogen announced by the World Health Organization, and long-term exposure increases the cancer rate. Yan said that nitrofuran metabolites found in frozen raw shrimp in Thailand are listed as category III carcinogens by the International Center for Cancer Research of the World Health Organization, and some animal experimental studies have increased the risk of cancer. Taiwan is banned because of health concerns.

Costco imported "DRISCOLL'S strawberries" was only detected last month for pesticide residue novalon 0.8 ppm (Photo courtesy of / FDA)

Costco: residue standards vary from country to country

For the unqualified products inspected this time, Wang Youmei, deputy general manager of Costco marketing planning, responded that avocados were found to be unqualified for two weeks in a row because the same batch of goods were shipped in two times. It was found that it was not in accordance with the regulations, mainly because the standards were different in different countries, but all the goods on the shelves had been removed, and the suppliers had been replaced. "there are all qualified products on the shelves."

As for the frozen raw shrimp in Thailand, Wang says that every batch of frozen shrimp imported to Taiwan is inspected locally, and only qualified can be imported into Taiwan. "this batch of inspection reports are also qualified, and we don't know why the border is found to be unqualified. Manufacturers will be asked to know the situation again."

With regard to the fact that Costco products have been repeatedly found to be inconsistent with the regulations, Wang explained that this is mainly because the residue standards vary from country to country, and the European Union, the United States, and Taiwan all have different laws and regulations, "but of course we will still abide by the laws of various countries. Any foreign manufacturer who wants to import to Taiwan must comply with the regulations." In cooperation with foreign manufacturers, Costco will have a set of standard operating procedures to confirm that manufacturers can provide products that meet Taiwan's regulations. "I will confirm with the manufacturers again that they should not import products that are exported to other countries and do not meet Taiwan's regulations."

However, how can Costco consolidate its food safety? Wang responded that Costco itself does regular inspection and irregular sampling inspection. "it seems that every batch of frozen shrimp has to be inspected by a third party." Strawberries and blueberries that were not in compliance with the regulations have also been changed. "We will let manufacturers understand the importance of regulations, and not all countries can come to Taiwan."

There are also a number of violations such as supermarkets.

In addition to Costco, the best supermarket (Wellcome Department Store) this time, imported "ESSENTIAL EVERYDAY blueberries" from the United States, detected residual pesticide prednisone 0.2 ppm, which did not comply with Taiwan's regulations of 0.01 ppm, totaling 816kg. Imported from Canada, "WINDSET FARMS fresh sweet pepper" detected residual pesticide fluniramine 0.03ppm, which did not comply with the Taiwan 0.01ppm regulations, a total of 463kg.

The sweetener cyclohexyl sulfonamide 0.94 g/kg was detected in the "MYPROTEINMYPROTEIN cocoa sandwich biscuits" imported by Yuanyuan Co., Ltd. from the United Kingdom, which is not a food additive approved in China.

The rest include chili powder imported by Yufeng from China containing Sudan pigment No. 3 10 ppb, but it is forbidden to use it in domestic regulations; comprehensive matcha powder imported from Japan by Deyiji detected residual pesticide siloxaofen 0.12 ppm; Xiang enriched frozen grouper fillet methyl mercury 0.9 ppm exported from Indonesia, exceeding the domestic standard of 0.5 ppm.

Liao Ziting said that information on unqualified products at the border inspection is released regularly every week, and the 18 products released today are returned or destroyed in accordance with the relevant regulations and are not allowed to enter the country. On the other hand, the shelf products that are still being sold on the market will also be inspected by local health units. Whether or not to impose a penalty? Liao responded, "for importers, it is a serious penalty if the products cannot be sold."

Yan Zonghai: cadmium is the primary carcinogen and nitrofuran metabolite is the third carcinogen.

Product residues of heavy metals and pesticides exceed the standard, the greatest impact is the health of the public. Yen Tsung-Hai points out that cadmium is a primary carcinogen announced by the World Health Organization, and long-term exposure increases the incidence of cancer, such as lung and prostate cancer. The "pain disease" that occurred in Japan in the 1950s was due to the presence of heavy metal cadmium in industrial waste water, which contaminated crops and led to bone lesions, osteomalacia and spontaneous fractures.

However, the human body does not absorb 100%. Yan says that the human body will only absorb 6%, and it will be excreted through the kidneys and urine. "unless exposed every day, the human body is not prone to cadmium poisoning. If people are worried, they can take blood to test their urine." In addition, prednisone and flunizide are insecticides with moderate and low toxicity, respectively. at present, EPA animal experiments increase the risk of cancer, but there is no evidence of carcinogenesis in human experiments.

Yan said that nitrofuran metabolites found in frozen raw shrimp in Thailand are listed as category III carcinogens by the International Center for Cancer Research of the World Health Organization, and some animal experimental studies have increased the risk of cancer. Taiwan is banned because of health concerns.

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