30% of the Lentinus edodes sold in the market are smuggled from China to wash their producing areas, and there are high doubts about pesticide, heavy metal and toxin residues.

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Lentinus edodes in Taiwan is of good quality and high nutritional value, so it is a widely used ingredient in Chinese cuisine, but it has long been threatened by illegal imports and low prices of Lentinus edodes. The industry estimates that more than 1,000 metric tons of Lentinus edodes are illegally exported to Taiwan each year, accounting for 1/3 of the local output of Lentinus edodes. In particular, in the warm winter of 107 years, the output of local shiitake mushrooms is only 50% in previous years. "but it can't be sold because Chinese shiitake mushrooms are so cheap!" Chen Tsung-Ming, chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Development Association, said helplessly. How to tell the difference between Taiwan and Chinese Lentinus edodes, please click here.

In order to crack down on the mixed sale of smuggled mushrooms in China, the Executive Yuan promoted the "check Program for marking the Origin of dried Lentinus edodes sold in the market." on the 8th, it first checked the bulk and packaged dried Lentinus edodes sold by shippers in the north and south of Taipei City. Five of the 12 pieces of Lentinus edodes are suspected to be Chinese Lentinus edodes. If found to be true, they will be punished in accordance with the law to safeguard the food safety of consumers and the rights and interests of farmers in Taiwan.

Maritime patrol personnel seized Chinese smuggled shiitake mushrooms year after year. (provide / Sea Patrol Fifth Coast Patrol) 1 / 3 on the market are Chinese smuggled mushrooms! Using illegal immigration and washing places to flow into Taiwan

China controls the import of dried Lentinus edodes by tariff quotas, with an annual quota of 288 metric tons (25% within the quota). Imports are only opened during the periods of January to March and October to December, and the import of Chinese Lentinus edodes is explicitly prohibited (Note 1), in order to protect Taiwan's Lentinus edodes industry. Vietnam is the largest importer of shiitake mushrooms in China, accounting for more than 80%, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Taiwan's Lentinus edodes is of good quality and produces more than 5, 000 tons a year, but the production cost is high and the land price is about 1100 yuan per kilogram. Japan and South Korea also take the high-price boutique route after import, and the price is even higher than that of domestic mushrooms. However, the price difference of Chinese smuggled Lentinus edodes is only 450,500 yuan (per kilogram), which doubles the price difference, allowing many unscrupulous operators to take risks in smuggling or re-export Chinese mushrooms in the name of the third place. Impersonate higher-priced shiitake mushrooms from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to make exorbitant profits. The Lentinus edodes market has been in chaos for many years, and the government has been unable to stop the tide of smuggling, which has had a serious impact on China's Lentinus edodes industry.

Chen Tsung-Ming, chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Development Association, said that in the warm winter last year, many space bags only grew mushrooms once, making the output of domestic shiitake mushrooms a record low this year, estimated at only 3,000 metric tons. "but it's not quite sold out, and some of the market has been bargained because Chinese shiitake mushrooms are so cheap!" The industry estimates that there are still more than 1,000 tons of shiitake mushrooms smuggled this year, nearly half of the domestic output, which has seriously divided the consumer market and affected the livelihood of mushroom farmers.

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Looking at the import statistics, Vietnam has been the largest importer of Lentinus edodes in China in the past ten years, and the proportion of flower mushrooms is high. However, according to Lu Huan, an assistant researcher in the plant pathology section of the Agricultural examination Institute, who has been to Vietnam to observe the planting patterns of Lentinus edodes, the climate in Vietnam is hotter and wetter than that in Taiwan, so it is not easy to grow flower mushrooms.

And Vietnamese mushroom farmers will hang the collected shiitake mushrooms in a string at the door and dry them with traditional air-drying methods, which is also unique to the region. "Vietnamese food likes to add fish sauce, and even shiitake mushrooms are mixed with the smell of fish sauce, which is not found in other places." This is very different from the Vietnamese mushrooms imported into China at present.

Lu points out that Vietnam almost did not produce Lentinus edodes before 1949, but it has exported a large number of Lentinus edodes since 101, leaving Vietnam's "mushroom miracle" covered with question marks, and there are also doubts about the suspicion of washing the origin for a third country.

Maritime patrol is under investigation year after year: smuggling is the most serious before and after the third quarter.

"as soon as Lentinus edodes in Taiwan rises, there will be more smuggling in China." this year alone, five major cases of smuggling of Lentinus edodes in China were seized, including the seizure of more than 10 tons of dried Lentinus edodes illegally imported by containers in Kaohsiung in April. In September, a smuggling syndicate in Kaohsiung staged a "day-stealing" plot, using discarded clothes to cover up the smuggling of Lentinus edodes, and was intercepted by the Maritime Patrol. The Fifth Coast Patrol of the Maritime Patrol Office said that since the opening of the mini three links, goods from both sides of the strait have entered and flowed frequently, and many operators have focused on the difference in mushroom prices between the two places, taking advantage of the opportunity to make a profit, and using new methods to make it difficult for inspectors to guard against.

In the Kinmen area, Wu Chien-kuan, captain of the Ninth Coast Patrol of the Maritime Patrol, explained that although people entering the ROC through the three links pipeline can bring a small amount of Chinese agricultural products (Note 2), many operators use this to persuade tourists to bring Chinese shiitake mushrooms and then buy them collectively, and resell them for a profit, which is suspected of smuggling.

Maritime patrol officers seized Chinese smuggled shiitake mushrooms buried in the mound. (provide / Marine Patrol Ninth Coast Patrol)

In addition, China's agricultural products are prohibited from being mailed into Taiwan, and shore patrol personnel will still seize an average of 200-300 kilograms of illegal goods every month this year, which is higher than the average of previous years. "the most obvious before and after the three major festivals is the peak season for smuggling dry goods, and the Spring Festival is in response to the demand for gifts. There is a demand for rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, and shiitake mushrooms will also be used for moon cake stuffing during the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Although the ROC has relatively strict controls on the import of Lentinus edodes and samples are collected case by case, Chinese Lentinus edodes entering through illegal channels are still running around the market. The Agriculture and Food Administration is responsible for counting the number of smuggled Lentinus edodes seized in various places and destroying them uniformly. Xu Mifei, head of the crop production team, pointed out that 30, 2184 kilograms had been destroyed this year (as of June).

Smuggling mushrooms is dangerous! Doubts about pesticide, heavy metal and toxin residues

Chinese shiitake mushrooms are flooding the market, and consumers are in urgent need of careful discrimination, otherwise they may eat all the Chinese mushrooms that have food safety concerns. Both LV and Chen Zongming have visited China and pointed out that the Chinese mushroom house is not only traditional and crude, but also has problems in production and transportation management.

Lu says that some mushroom houses are set up temporarily. "for example, when they were originally growing rice, when they stopped planting, they set up a bamboo house in the field, put a space bag in it, and began to grow mushrooms." In the part of the space bag, it is necessary to sterilize the mushrooms at high temperature and high pressure before using it, but many Chinese mushroom farmers do things cheaply, putting the space bag in large plastic bags, pouring boiler steam into it, and blowing hot air for six hours. If sterilization is not done well, it is necessary to add chemicals to inhibit bacteria, so as to add doubts about the quality of mushrooms planted.

In addition, there are more than 30 kinds of pesticides officially approved by mushroom farmers in China, the most common of which is befente. pesticide residues (pesticides, fungicides) are seriously polluted, and heavy metal cadmium and mercury residues can even be detected. In Taiwan, mushroom farmers rarely use drugs, and the only legal pesticide available is "decay" (a fungicide). In addition, in China, especially in Henan Province, low-cost coal is preferred when baking shiitake mushrooms, and burning coal is easy to produce sulfur dioxide, which makes the residual sulfur dioxide of Chinese mushrooms higher, which is also very different from the method of Lentinus edodes in Taiwan.