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Half of Retail Shiitake Mushrooms Are Smuggled from China, Origin Laundering Raises Concerns Over Pesticide, Heavy Metal and Toxin Residues

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Half of Retail Shiitake Mushrooms Are Smuggled from China, Smuggled and Origin-Laundered, Raising High Concerns Over Pesticide, Heavy Metal and Toxin Residues

Taiwan's shiitake mushrooms are of good quality and high nutritional value, and are a widely used ingredient in Chinese cuisine. However, they have long been threatened by illegally imported, low-priced Chinese shiitake mushrooms. The industry estimates that more than 1,000 metric tons of Chinese shiitake mushrooms are illegally shipped to Taiwan each year, approaching half of domestic shiitake production. In particular, after the warm winter last year (ROC year 107) and this year, domestic shiitake production was only 50% of previous years. "But even so, we still can't sell much, because Chinese shiitake mushrooms are just too cheap!" said Chen Tsung-ming, chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Development Association, helplessly. (For how to distinguish the difference between Taiwanese and Chinese shiitake mushrooms, please click here)

To crack down on smuggled Chinese mushrooms being passed off and sold, the Executive Yuan is promoting the "Origin Labeling Inspection Program for Retail Dried Shiitake Mushrooms." On the 8th, inspections were first conducted on bulk and packaged dried shiitake mushrooms sold by grocery dealers in Taipei City. Of 12 samples inspected, 5 were suspected to be Chinese shiitake mushrooms. Violators will be punished according to law to protect consumers' food safety and farmers' rights.

Coast Guard personnel seize smuggled Chinese shiitake mushrooms year after year. (Provided by / Coast Guard Fifth Coastal Patrol)

1/2 of the Market Is Smuggled Chinese Mushrooms! They Enter Taiwan Through Smuggling and Origin Laundering

China adopts tariff quota control on the import of dried shiitake mushrooms, with an annual quota of 288 metric tons (in-quota tariff rate 25%), and imports are only open during two periods, January-March and October-December. The import of Chinese shiitake mushrooms is explicitly prohibited (Note 1) to protect Taiwan's shiitake industry. Vietnam is China's largest source of shiitake imports, accounting for more than 80%, followed by South Korea and Japan.

Taiwan's shiitake mushrooms are of good quality, with annual production of more than 5,000 metric tons. However, production costs are relatively high, and the origin price is about 1,100 yuan per kilogram. Imported Japanese and Korean shiitake mushrooms also follow a high-priced premium route, with selling prices even higher than domestic mushrooms. Smuggled Chinese shiitake mushrooms, however, sell for only 450-500 yuan (per kilogram) on the market, a full twofold price gap. This drives many unscrupulous operators to spare no cost, risking smuggling or using third-place transshipment to import Chinese mushrooms, passing them off as higher-priced Taiwanese, Japanese or Korean mushrooms to reap huge profits. The shiitake market has been chaotic for years, and the government has never been able to stop the wave of smuggling, severely impacting China's shiitake industry.

Chen Tsung-ming, chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Development Association, said that after last year's warm winter, many space bags produced mushrooms only once, with average output of only 15 grams per bag, making this year's domestic shiitake production a record low, estimated at only 3,000 metric tons. "But even so, we still can't sell much; some wholesalers have already cut prices, because Chinese shiitake mushrooms are just too cheap!" The industry estimates that this year there will still be more than 1,000 metric tons of smuggled shiitake mushrooms, approaching nearly half of domestic production. This has severely divided the consumer market and also affected mushroom farmers' livelihoods.

Vietnam's "Shiitake Miracle" May Be Suspected of Origin Laundering for China

Looking at import statistics, Vietnam has been China's largest source of shiitake imports for the past decade, with a high proportion of flower shiitake. But according to Lu Yun-sheng, who has traveled to Vietnam to observe local shiitake cultivation, Vietnam's climate is hotter and more humid than Taiwan's, making it difficult to grow flower shiitake.

Moreover, traditional Vietnamese mushroom farmers string harvested shiitake mushrooms into a line and hang them at the doorway, using traditional air-drying to dry them, which is also unique to the area. "Vietnamese food likes to add fish sauce, and even shiitake mushrooms are mixed with a fish sauce smell; nowhere else has this." This is very different from the shape of flower shiitake currently imported from Vietnam.

Lu pointed out that Vietnam produced almost no shiitake mushrooms before ROC year 100, but from year 101 onward it unexpectedly exported large quantities of shiitake mushrooms, casting layer upon layer of doubt over Vietnam's "shiitake miracle." Some outside observers also suspect it may be laundering origin for a third country.

The Coast Guard Investigates Every Year: Smuggling Is Worst Around the Three Major Festivals

"When Taiwanese shiitake prices rise, smuggled Chinese ones increase." This year alone, five major Chinese shiitake smuggling cases have been seized, including the Customs Administration's Kaohsiung Customs in April seizing a container illegally smuggling more than 10 metric tons of dried shiitake mushrooms. In September, a smuggling ring in the Kaohsiung area staged a "steal the sky and swap the sun" plot, using discarded clothing to conceal smuggled shiitake mushrooms, and was intercepted on the spot by the Coast Guard Administration with 19 metric tons of shiitake mushrooms. The Coast Guard Administration's Fifth Coastal Patrol Team said that since the opening of the mini three links, cross-strait goods have moved in and out frequently. Many operators have seen the price gap between the two places and seized the opportunity to profit, and their methods keep being renewed, making it hard for inspection officers to guard against.

In the Kinmen area, Wu Chien-kuan, captain of the Coast Guard Administration's Ninth Coastal Patrol Team, explained that although people entering China through the mini three links pipeline may carry a small amount of Chinese agricultural products (Note 2), many operators use this to persuade travelers to carry Chinese shiitake mushrooms and then collectively buy them back, reselling them for profit, which already involves suspicion of smuggling.

Coast Guard personnel seized smuggled Chinese shiitake mushrooms buried in a mound of soil. (Provided by / Coast Guard Ninth Coastal Patrol)

In addition, Chinese agricultural products are prohibited from being mailed back to Taiwan. On average, coastal patrol personnel still intercept 200-300 kilograms of illegal goods each month this year, higher than the average of previous years. "It is most obvious around the three major festivals; that is the peak season for smuggled dried goods. The Spring Festival is due to gift-giving demand, Dragon Boat Festival has zongzi-making demand, and Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake fillings also use shiitake mushrooms."

Although China's import controls on shiitake mushrooms are relatively strict, with box-by-box random inspections, Chinese shiitake mushrooms entering through illegal channels still circulate everywhere in the market. The Agriculture and Food Agency is responsible for collecting the quantity of smuggled shiitake mushrooms seized in various places and carrying out unified destruction. Hsu Hui-fei, head of the Crop Production Division, pointed out that this year (as of June), 32,184 kilograms have already been destroyed.

Smuggled Mushrooms Are Dangerous! Concerns Over Pesticide, Heavy Metal and Toxin Residues

Chinese shiitake mushrooms flood the market, and consumers urgently need to distinguish them carefully; otherwise they may end up eating Chinese mushrooms with food safety concerns. Both Lu Yun-sheng and Chen Tsung-ming have visited China for inspections and pointed out that Chinese mushroom sheds are not only traditional and crude, but also have problems in management from production to transportation.

Lu said some mushroom sheds are set up temporarily. "For example, if the land was originally used to grow rice and one season is not planted, they build a bamboo shed in the field, place space bags inside, and start growing mushrooms." As for the space bags, before use they must undergo high-temperature and high-pressure sterilization before mushroom inoculation can begin. But many Chinese mushroom farmers take shortcuts: they put the space bags in large plastic bags, pump boiler steam in, and after blowing hot air for six hours, consider sterilization complete. If sterilization is not done well, chemicals need to be added to inhibit bacteria, making the quality of the grown shiitake mushrooms even more questionable.

In addition, Chinese authorities approve more than 30 kinds of pesticides for mushroom farmers to use, with benfuracarb being the most common. Pesticide use is frequent, and chemical residues (insecticides, fungicides) cause serious contamination; even heavy metal residues of cadmium and mercury can be detected. In Taiwan, however, mushroom farmers hardly use pesticides. The only legal pesticide available is "fumei" (a fungicide). In addition, in China, especially in the Henan area, when drying shiitake mushrooms they tend to use lower-cost coal. Burning coal easily produces sulfur dioxide, making Chinese mushrooms have higher sulfur dioxide residues. This is also very different from Taiwan's shiitake practices.

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