Survey shows 30% of Chinese shiitake mushrooms exceed pesticide residue limits and are passed off as Japanese, Korean and Taiwan mushrooms to enter the market

Although Taiwan bans the import of Chinese shiitake mushrooms, unscrupulous operators, eyeing the huge business opportunities in Taiwan's shiitake market, get through customs by smuggling or laundering the place of origin, and aggressively encroach on the Taiwan market. Even though officials have declared they will crack down on illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms, operators are clearly unafraid.

Based on the appearance identification method provided by the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, NewsMarket conducted a market survey across Taiwan and found that Chinese shiitake mushrooms account for a high proportion of the market. A total of 21 samples of dried shiitake mushrooms and shredded shiitake mushrooms were collected, of which 10 were identified by experts as Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms, including 2 packages of samples mixing Taiwan and Chinese shiitake mushrooms; another 4 shredded shiitake products directly listed China as the place of origin, completely ignoring the official ban.

NewsMarket further sent all shiitake samples to Tentamus Testing Company for 380-item pesticide residue testing, and the results found that: among 14 Chinese shiitake samples, 5 tested positive for the pesticide "benomyl", a proportion as high as 30%. In comparison, domestically produced shiitake mushrooms are approved for use with only one pesticide - prochloraz - yet 16 pesticide residue tolerance levels have been set, which is equivalent to opening the door for imported shiitake mushrooms. Illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms occupy the market, and despite a high proportion of pesticide residues they can be sold "legally", which not only squeezes the rights and interests of local mushroom farmers, but also seriously affects consumer food safety.

Reporters bought shiitake mushrooms on site; the proportion of Chinese mushrooms is high

Low-priced Chinese mushrooms smuggled in or shipped to Taiwan after laundering their place of origin through other countries have been circulating in the market for years, accounting for as much as 30% of the market share, mostly passed off as domestic or Japanese and Korean shiitake mushrooms, with prices cut in half, at only half the market rate.

Following the three principles for identifying domestically produced dried shiitake mushrooms set out by Lu Yun-sheng, a Taiwan mushroom expert and assistant research fellow in the Plant Pathology Division of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (see the instructional video at the end of the article): "1. The mushroom cap has no cracks (low proportion of flower shiitake), 2. The mushroom surface is mostly wrinkled, 3. The mushroom stem is relatively long", NewsMarket reporters went to local Lunar New Year goods wholesale markets in Taipei, Taichung, and Chiayi to actually investigate just how easy it is to buy Chinese shiitake mushrooms.

Although Vietnam is "on paper" Taiwan's largest source of imported shiitake mushrooms, when actually visiting dried goods stores, most packages were labeled as originating from Puli, Xinshe, or Korea; the exquisitely packaged, extra-large flower shiitake gift boxes ranged in price from 600 to 1,800 yuan per box (half a jin). When asked why the price gap was so large, the owner smiled but was unwilling to explain further, while pulling the reporter over to see a large bag of dark black winter mushrooms on the other side and saying: "If you want domestic ones, this is it, 1,500 yuan per (Taiwan) jin; you can buy half a jin, 200 grams, or even less if you like!"

At a shiitake mushroom shop in Chiayi that has been operating locally for more than 20 years, when the reporter said they wanted to buy "flower shiitake for gifting", owner Chen started grumbling: "There's no need to insist on buying flower shiitake. Taiwan's climate is humid and hot, so it's very hard to produce flower shiitake. 95% of the flower shiitake on the market comes from China. The quality is not good, so I don't recommend buying it!"

After saying that, he took out Puli shiitake mushrooms with wrinkled caps one by one and hurried to explain: "Only those with long stems that extend beyond the edge of the cap are domestic shiitake mushrooms. Chinese mushroom farmers habitually cut the stems." He also pledged confidently that he only sells domestic goods, precisely to resist the chaos of Chinese shiitake mushrooms flooding the market. But at the other end of the market, some shops brazenly displayed "shiitake bricks" that were obviously smuggled, and even openly said that they sold Chinese shiitake mushrooms in their store.

Reporters tested 10 shiitake mushroom items, all of which were adulterated with Chinese shiitake mushrooms

Reporters selected 10 flower shiitake items on site that were advertised as domestic or Japanese and Korean, and sent them to experts at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute for appearance identification. All were judged to resemble the Chinese shiitake mushroom type, and 2 of the samples mixed Taiwan and Chinese shiitake mushrooms, increasing the difficulty of identification and once again confirming the fact that Chinese shiitake mushrooms have long since captured the domestic market. The "shiitake crisis" not only harms consumer rights but also affects the rights of mushroom farmers.

Wang Te-ming, a consumer protection officer at the Consumer Protection Committee, said that under the "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation", bulk foods must be labeled with the product name and place of origin, otherwise a fine of 30,000 yuan may be imposed. In the face of the chaos of Chinese shiitake mushrooms being sold under the guise of domestic or Japanese and Korean shiitake mushrooms, checks on place-of-origin labeling will be strengthened so that consumers can conveniently choose domestic agricultural products; however, the current law applies only to businesses with commercial registration, and traditional markets and street vendors are not covered by this regulation, so there are also plans to amend the law in the future to bring all sales units within the scope of the law.

30% of Chinese shiitake mushrooms tested positive for the fungicide benomyl, becoming a food safety loophole

Chinese shiitake mushrooms passed off as domestic to grab market share not only squeeze the living space of local mushroom farmers, but also conceal food safety risks. NewsMarket collected 21 samples of Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms and shredded shiitake mushrooms across Taiwan and tested for 380 pesticide residues. 5 samples tested positive for the fungicide "benomyl" at 0.07-0.28 ppm, a proportion as high as 30%. NewsMarket also sampled 7 Taiwan shiitake mushroom items for pesticide residue testing, and 1 also tested positive for the fungicide "benomyl" at 0.11 ppm.

Under our country's regulations, mushroom cultivation in Taiwan is limited to the use of only one pesticide, "prochloraz" (added to the space bag during bag-making to control green mold disease of shiitake mushrooms). Detection of any other pesticide is illegal, yet 16 pesticide residue tolerance levels have been set, which is equivalent to opening the door for imported shiitake mushrooms.

According to the pesticide residue tolerance standards for mushroom vegetables (shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, straw mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, white wood ear mushrooms), there are a total of 16 tolerance standards for insecticides and fungicides including acetamiprid, benomyl, chlorantraniliprole, clothianidin, deltamethrin… In other words, if the 16 agents are detected in commercially sold shiitake mushrooms or border shiitake mushrooms, it is not considered illegal.

According to the pesticide residue standards for imported shiitake mushrooms, the Chinese shiitake mushrooms that tested positive for pesticide residues in this NewsMarket submission were all within the permitted range (the permitted limit for benomyl is 0.5 ppm), and are "legal" with no penalty required. However, the two sets of shiitake management standards, "strict with oneself and lenient toward others", not only allow illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms to "legally" grab the market at low prices, but also expose unaware consumers to more food safety risks.