Inferior Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms invade group meal catering and snack vendors, operators furious: buying shiitake mushrooms fills us with anxiety
(Continued from previous article) Chinese shiitake mushrooms are illegally grabbing market share. In addition to whole dried shiitake mushrooms, they are also attacking Taiwan's affordable snack foods in the form of "shredded shiitake mushrooms." Many trading companies openly sell Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms. These shredded shiitake mushrooms, which have not undergone quarantine inspection and raise safety concerns, are widely used in snacks such as shiitake mushroom pork thick soup, glutinous oil rice, meat zongzi, and fried rice noodles.
Reporter investigation found that many food and beverage operators simply do not know how to distinguish Chinese from Taiwan shredded shiitake mushrooms. "When ordering goods, I just say 'shredded shiitake mushrooms.' The supplier only sells one kind, and I have no other choice." But some operators insist on using local shiitake mushrooms in their dishes, emphasizing that Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms come from inconsistent sources and are inferior in both texture and quality. To protect consumer food safety and brand reputation, they have used Taiwan shredded shiitake mushrooms for many years.
Illegally imported Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms are easily obtained, and at only half the price of domestic shiitake mushrooms, many food and beverage operators, under cost considerations and without knowing it, have become accomplices in fueling the smuggling business. Upstream and Downstream sampled 4 Chinese shredded shiitake mushroom products and 3 Taiwan shredded shiitake mushroom products for pesticide testing. Of these, 3 Chinese shredded shiitake mushroom products tested positive for the fungicide "benomyl." As Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms encroach across Taiwan, how should the government carry out source control?
Shiitake mushroom smuggling is severe; without quarantine inspection, health may be affected
Every year before the Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese shiitake mushrooms (shredded) become the main smuggled goods. At the end of April last year, the Kaohsiung Customs Office of the Customs Administration seized more than 10,000 kg of smuggled shiitake mushrooms. Now, as the year-end is approaching, the Kinmen Coast Guard has launched a special pre-Lunar New Year inspection operation. In December last year alone, five cases of Chinese shiitake mushroom smuggling were seized at the shallow-water wharf of Liaoluo Commercial Port.
Smuggled dried shiitake mushrooms (shredded) are often wrapped in cardboard boxes and plastic bags and hidden in lower-layer shipping containers. The Kaohsiung Customs Office pointed out that smuggled Chinese shiitake mushrooms (shredded) have not undergone quarantine inspection and may risk causing major agricultural disease outbreaks. If they flow into the market for sale, they will greatly affect people's health.
Chinese shiitake mushrooms, which our country explicitly prohibits from being imported, have long entered the Taiwan market in large quantities through detours via third countries and smuggling channels, thereby earning price differences. Although differences in production environments and operating practices among countries lead to clearly different appearances of shiitake mushrooms produced there - for example, Taiwan shiitake mushrooms have longer stems, a lower proportion of cracks on the caps, and many wrinkles - many consumers still find it very difficult to identify domestically produced mushrooms (for identification methods, see here).
Characteristics of Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms: ballast marks, wet and soft mushroom bodies, thin black strips
However, if the form is cut into thin black strips of "shredded shiitake mushrooms" with almost no visible mushroom flesh, the likelihood that the place of origin is China is very high. Chen Tsung-ming, chairman of the Taiwan Mushroom Development Association, who has long assisted the government in seizing smuggled shiitake mushrooms and identifying places of origin, said that Chinese shiitake mushrooms smuggled in by boat often appear in two forms: "compressed flat shiitake mushrooms" and "shredded shiitake mushrooms." Although Vietnam also exports large quantities of dried shredded shiitake mushrooms, according to his understanding, this kind of dried shredded shiitake mushrooms is only produced in China and does not originate locally in Vietnam.
Lu Yun-sheng, assistant research fellow in the Plant Pathology Division of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, also pointed out that Chinese "shredded shiitake mushrooms" generally have two major characteristics: "ballast marks" and "wet and soft mushroom bodies." The reason is that operators across the strait are accustomed to first slightly rehydrating dried shiitake mushrooms, cutting them into shreds after softening, and then tightly pressing them into brick shapes to save transport space and costs. The water content of these shiitake mushrooms is usually as high as 30-50%, and they feel soft to the touch, unlike Taiwan, Japan, and Korea shiitake mushrooms, which are dried more thoroughly and can even be snapped and broken like crackers. Taiwan shiitake mushrooms, on the other hand, are rarely sold shredded. If sliced, the thickness is wider and the mushroom flesh is clearly visible.
(Top) Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms are dry, flat, and strip-shaped, (bottom) greatly different from domestically produced shiitake mushroom slices
Shredded shiitake mushroom quality raises concerns and food safety doubts
Chinese shiitake mushrooms with relatively high moisture easily mold during transport, often have an off odor in the mushroom body, and may also have preservatives added to extend shelf life, becoming a major hidden concern for food safety. These smuggled shredded shiitake mushrooms are found throughout the public's daily diet, such as in shiitake mushroom pork thick soup, zongzi, glutinous oil rice, and fried rice noodles. "This most often appears in processing plants and bucket meals. In some shiitake mushroom pork thick soup, the shiitake mushrooms are just one black strip and may even be mistaken for wood ear, which is very likely to be from China," Lu Yun-sheng said.
When Upstream and Downstream visited a wholesale market in person, they found that as long as one asked whether "shredded shiitake mushrooms" were sold, many shops frankly admitted to selling "Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms," and at a cheap price, only half the selling price of Taiwan shredded shiitake mushrooms.
Taichung's famous dried goods wholesale market, "Jianguo Market," is visited not only by people buying Lunar New Year goods, but also by food and group meal caterers coming to buy in bulk. Sister Yue (pseudonym)'s shop carries two kinds of shredded shiitake mushrooms, with prices differing by a factor of two. If customers are buying for themselves to eat, she recommends Taiwan shredded shiitake mushrooms at 50 yuan per liang; the cheaper Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms (30 yuan per liang) are mainly supplied to group meal caterers and snack shops. "The fried rice noodles and glutinous oil rice you usually eat almost all use Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms. I wholesale goods to them every month."
Chinese shredded shiitake mushroom quality is poor: moisture absorption and sour smell, small insects crawling around
Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms are usually not placed in the store, but stored in the refrigerated room of a warehouse. Operators ask customers how much they want, weigh the amount, and then bag and pack it. Some shiitake mushroom shops said outright that they do not sell shredded shiitake mushrooms. "The quality of those is all poor. If you want to eat them, you had better buy whole shiitake mushrooms and cut them yourself at home. That is the freshest." Boss A-man (pseudonym) said.
In an actual comparison of Taiwan and Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms, the former has more mushroom flesh and greater thickness, while the latter mostly shows only a thin black strip of the mushroom cap portion. The mushroom bodies are wet and soft, appearing stuck together in clumps, with white spots covering the surface, possibly indicating mold has already developed. The smell is strong, mixed with the sour odor of amino acids from moisture absorption. Several small insects were even seen crawling around, along with mixed-in plastic bag fragments.
Operators unknowingly buy Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms, thinking they are produced in Taiwan
Shredded shiitake mushrooms add flavor when used in dishes, but they are expensive. Especially before the Lunar New Year, dried shiitake mushrooms frequently rise in price, so some shops have no choice but to use cheaper shredded shiitake mushrooms, without any awareness that what they bought are Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms illegally brought into Taiwan with questionable quality.
Walking into a long-established shiitake mushroom pork thick soup shop in Taichung that has operated for ten years, Old Cao (pseudonym) generously let the reporter inspect the bags of shredded shiitake mushrooms in the stocking area. Their appearance clearly resembled Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms. The shriveled, slender shredded shiitake mushrooms expanded after soaking in water, the mushroom flesh area became larger, and at first glance they indeed looked no different from domestically produced shiitake mushroom slices.
After the reporter told him that these were Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms, Boss Cao exclaimed in surprise and protest: "(When ordering goods) I would not specifically say whether I want Taiwan or Chinese (shredded shiitake mushrooms). The supplier only sells one kind, and I have no other choice." This shows that the shop did not know the differences in the sources of shredded shiitake mushrooms, nor did it understand how the food safety risks of the two differ.
Auntie Huang, who has run a glutinous oil rice stall at Chiayi East Market for more than ten years, pointed out that in the past she did not know shredded shiitake mushrooms were divided into Chinese and local, and had always thought what her shop used was local shiitake mushrooms. "Is there really no problem with operators openly selling Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms? Can the government not manage this from the source? Can you please not make operators feel anxious even when buying shiitake mushrooms?" she said emotionally.
(Top) Shiitake mushroom pork thick soup using Chinese shredded shiitake mushrooms (bottom) Shiitake mushroom pork thick soup using Taiwan shredded shiitake mushrooms
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