Only 20% of imported Japanese strawberries pass pesticide residue testing

The Consumers' Foundation sampled local and imported strawberries in January this year. Of the twelve strawberry samples tested, only the Korean strawberries had no pesticide residues detected; the remaining eleven strawberry samples were found to contain one to seventeen types of pesticide residues, and six of them did not meet the allowable agricultural residue limits, giving an overall failure rate of 50%. Broken down by place of origin, Japan's failure rate was as high as 80%, raising doubts that the biggest problem is that after imported strawberries enter the market, there is no continued monitoring and gatekeeping.

Consumers' Foundation chairman Huang Yiteng said that in January this year, the foundation took samples from sales channels across the island including mass merchandise stores, supermarkets, fruit shops, traditional markets and evening markets, and purchased six local strawberries, five Japanese strawberries and one Korean strawberry, twelve items in total.

Consumers' Foundation publisher Hu Fengbin said that broken down by place of origin, the pass rate for local strawberries was 66.7%, for Japanese strawberries 20%, and for Korean strawberries 100%. In other words, the failure rate for Japanese strawberries was as high as 80%.

According to Food and Drug Administration statistics, the number of imported strawberries that failed border inspection was 19 in 2020, 21 in 2021, and 11 as of February this year, of which as many as 39 were Japanese strawberries.

Hu Fengbin mocked that last month, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, in arguing for opening up food from Fukushima, stressed that Japan's management is recognized by the world, and that if radiation levels exceeding standards are detected, Japan would be asked to propose improvements before discussing import details, and that if standards were repeatedly exceeded, ties would be cut; but judging from these test results, the failure rate of imported Japanese strawberries is as high as 80%. "Is this kind of management affirmed by the world?"

Consumers' Foundation inspection chief Ling Yongjian explained that the biggest problem this time lies almost entirely in border inspection, and it is reasonable to suspect that subsequent market monitoring has not included random testing of strawberries, which may be a relatively large loophole.

Yesterday was the eleventh anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The Green Consumer Foundation and other civil groups held a press conference saying that eleven years later, Japan is still suffering from the nuclear disaster, yet our country imports food from Japan's nuclear disaster areas, while domestic testing capacity is insufficient and the sampling ratio is low, raising concerns that the probability of people ingesting radiation will greatly increase.

The Food and Drug Administration said that pesticide residues in Japanese strawberries have recently been relatively serious, and since February 22 this year it has launched "batch-by-batch inspection" as a gatekeeping measure. Strawberries that fail will be destroyed or sent to countries that meet inspection standards, and this measure is expected to be implemented for six months first.