Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation launches real-name system combined with rapid mass spectrometry testing: pesticide exceedances are immediately traced to the source, and three repeat offenses lead to refusal of goods

Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation (referred to as TAPMC) officially launched a "real-name system" for fruit and vegetable auctions on July 1 this year, paired with the pesticide testing method "rapid mass spectrometry testing" developed by the Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute. All fruits and vegetables submitted for auction must provide the complete supplier ID number; those that do not provide it will not be auctioned. Rapid mass spectrometry testing can accurately detect 192 commonly used domestic pesticides within half an hour. For fruits and vegetables submitted for auction that day, after sampling and testing, results can be known before the auction in the early hours of the next day, and fruits and vegetables that fail sampling inspection each day are also destroyed that same day.

"By combining rapid mass spectrometry testing with the real-name system, we can know exactly who violated the rules, and in the future farmers will be more cautious in using pesticides," said Lu Quanli, chief secretary of TAPMC. At present, the real-name system has established a database of more than 156,000 suppliers. Currently, only TAPMC in Taiwan uses rapid mass spectrometry testing, and all rapid test results are sent back to the Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute on the same day.

In conjunction with the real-name system, if a supplier's submitted fruits and vegetables fail sampling inspection for the first time, that supplier must suspend supply for ten days; on the second failure, supply is suspended for one month; on the third failure, TAPMC will no longer accept goods from that supplier.

Strengthening the "exam" at the end point to prevent fruits and vegetables with excessive pesticide residues from entering the market

TAPMC is the fruit and vegetable auction market with the largest trading volume in Taiwan, with a daily trading volume of more than 2,300 metric tons and more than several hundred thousand pieces of auctioned fruits and vegetables. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that two years ago they began requiring TAPMC to adopt a real-name system for fruit and vegetable supply. In September last year, TAPMC began using new rapid mass spectrometry chemical testing for sampling inspection, and in July this year the real-name system was officially launched. With the two combined, non-compliant products can be more precisely prevented from entering the market.

Lu Quanli explained that during the establishment of the real-name system, TAPMC required producers to provide their ID numbers, and each producer would have a corresponding number. Even if farmers' associations or fruit and vegetable cooperatives assist farmers in submitting goods, they must provide producer information for each auctioned fruit or vegetable item, otherwise it will not be auctioned. "If the farmers'