Chinese Shiitake Pesticide Residues: Thirty Percent Ignore Taiwan's Ban, Flood the Market Posing as Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese Mushrooms
Although Taiwan bans the import of Chinese shiitake mushrooms, unscrupulous operators, eyeing the huge business opportunity in Taiwan's shiitake market, have broken through via smuggling or laundering the place of origin, seizing a large share of the Taiwan market. Even though officials have declared they will strictly crack down on illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms, operators clearly are not afraid.
Based on the appearance identification method provided by the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, Upstream and Downstream 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 (including 7 samples of Taiwanese shiitake mushrooms), of which 10 were labeled as originating from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, etc., but were all identified by experts as Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms, including 2 samples mixing Taiwanese and Chinese shiitake mushrooms; another 4 shredded shiitake products were directly labeled as originating from China, completely ignoring the official ban.
Upstream and Downstream further sent all shiitake samples to TÜV Rheinland for testing of 380 pesticide residues, and the results found: among 14 Chinese shiitake samples, 5 tested positive for the pesticide "benomyl," a proportion as high as thirty percent. By comparison, only one pesticide - prochloraz - is approved for use on domestically produced shiitake mushrooms, yet 16 pesticide residue tolerance values have been established, effectively opening the door for imported shiitake mushrooms. Illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms occupy the market, and despite a high rate of pesticide residues they can be sold "legally," not only squeezing the rights and interests of local mushroom farmers but also seriously affecting consumer food safety.
Reporters Buy Shiitake Mushrooms On Site; Proportion of Chinese Mushrooms High
Low-priced Chinese mushrooms smuggled in or laundered through other countries and shipped to Taiwan have circulated in the market for years, accounting for as much as thirty percent of market sales, mostly passed off as domestic or Japanese and Korean shiitake mushrooms, with prices halved - only half the market rate.
Following the three principles for identifying domestic dried shiitake mushrooms laid out by Taiwanese mushroom expert and assistant researcher Lu Yun-sheng of the Plant Pathology Division at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (see the instructional video at the end of the article): "1. No cracks on the mushroom cap (low proportion of flower shiitake), 2. The mushroom surface is mostly wrinkled, 3. The mushroom stem is longer," Upstream and Downstream reporters went to local Lunar New Year wholesale markets in Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi and other places to actually investigate just how easy it is to buy Chinese shiitake mushrooms.
Visiting dried goods stores in person, most of the packages were labeled with place of origin as Puli, Xinshe, or Korea. The exquisitely packaged, extra-large flower shiitake gift boxes were priced from 600 to 1,800 yuan per box (half a jin). When asked why the price gap was so large, the shop owner smiled but was unwilling to explain further, while pulling the reporter over to see a large bag of deep-black winter mushrooms on the other side and saying: "If you want domestic ones, they're right here, 1,500 yuan per (Taiwanese) jin. Whether you want to buy half a jin, 200 grams, or even less is fine!"
At a shiitake shop in Chiayi that had been operating locally for more than twenty years, the reporter said she wanted to buy "flower shiitake to give as a gift," and owner Chen started grumbling: "No need to insist on buying flower shiitake. Taiwan's climate is humid and hot, making flower shiitake very hard to produce. 95% of the flower shiitake on the market comes from China. The quality is poor, so I don't recommend buying it!"
After saying this, he took out Puli shiitake mushrooms with caps covered in wrinkles and hurriedly explained: "Only those with long stems that extend beyond the edge of the cap are domestic shiitake mushrooms. Chinese mushroom farmers are in the habit of trimming the stems." He also swore 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 "mushroom bricks" that were obviously smuggled, and some even admitted outright that they sold Chinese shiitake mushrooms in their store.
Reporters Tested 10 Shiitake Products, All Were Chinese Shiitake Passed Off as Something Else
Reporters on site selected 10 flower shiitake products advertised as domestic or Japanese/Korean, and submitted them to experts at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute for appearance identification. All were judged to resemble Chinese shiitake mushroom morphology. Among them, 2 samples mixed Taiwanese and Chinese shiitake mushrooms, increasing the difficulty of identification, and once again confirming the fact that Chinese shiitake mushrooms have long since conquered the domestic market.
Consumer protection officer Wang Te-ming of the Consumer Protection Office stated 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 disguised as domestic or Japanese/Korean shiitake mushrooms, inspections of origin labeling will be strengthened to make it easier for consumers to buy domestic agricultural products; however, the current law applies only to businesses with commercial registration, and traditional markets and street vendors are not covered by these regulations, so future amendments are planned to bring all sales units within the scope of the law.
Thirty Percent of Chinese Shiitake Mushrooms Test Positive for the Fungicide Benomyl, a Food Safety Loophole
Chinese shiitake mushrooms passing themselves off to grab market share not only squeeze the living space of local mushroom farmers but also harbor hidden food safety risks. Upstream and Downstream collected 21 samples of Chinese dried shiitake mushrooms and shredded shiitake mushrooms across Taiwan and tested for 380 pesticide residues. Five tested positive for the fungicide "benomyl" at 0.07-0.28 ppm, a proportion as high as thirty percent. Upstream and Downstream also sampled 7 Taiwanese shiitake products for pesticide residue testing, and 1 also tested positive for the fungicide "benomyl" at 0.11 ppm.
Under our country's regulations, only one pesticide - prochloraz - is permitted for use in cultivating shiitake mushrooms in Taiwan (added to the space bag during bag-making to control green mold disease of shiitake mushrooms). Detecting any other pesticide is illegal, yet 16 pesticide residue tolerance values have been established, effectively opening the door for imported shiitake mushrooms.
According to the pesticide residue tolerance standards for mushroom vegetables (shiitake, button mushroom, straw mushroom, enoki mushroom, wood ear, white wood ear), there are tolerance standards for 16 insecticides and fungicides including acephate, benomyl, chromafenozide, clothianidin, deltamethrin… and others. In other words, detecting these 16 agents in market shiitake mushrooms or border shiitake mushrooms 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 Upstream and Downstream submission all fell within the permitted range (the permitted limit for benomyl is 0.5 ppm), belonging to the "legal" category and not subject to penalty. But the two sets of shiitake management standards - "strict with oneself, lenient with others" - not only allow illegal Chinese shiitake mushrooms to grab the market at low prices "legally," but also expose unwitting consumers to more food safety risks.
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