Pesticide detected in organic verification plot roselle; Chulu Ranch presents organic certification, NCKU verification center denies it

(15:58 update: The Agriculture and Food Agency confirms that the operator did apply to grow roselle in an organic plot, but was this batch of roselle in which pesticide residue was detected grown by the operator as claimed, or purchased from other local farmers? The investigation will continue.)

The Taipei City Department of Health recently conducted a spot check at Chulu Ranch's directly operated store in the Eslite Songyan Store and found that the roselle contained the pesticide dimethoate at a level as high as 0.13 ppm. Chulu Ranch claimed that this batch of roselle was grown in an organic verification plot, and that before the product was put on the shelves it was voluntarily sent to a third-party unit for testing, and it presented a passing organic agricultural product inspection report from National Cheng Kung University and a no-pesticide-residue certificate from the Taiwan Testing Center to clear its name;

However, the outer packaging of Chulu Ranch's roselle bears no organic certification mark. Wen Yun-che, head of National Cheng Kung University's Green Product Inspection Division, said that roselle was not among the organic verification items submitted by Chulu, and that he had never received the dried roselle the operator claimed to have sent for testing.

However, the organic verification certificate presented by the operator does indeed list the item "roselle" (Hibiscus sabdariffa). According to the operator, this batch of roselle was grown in an organic verification plot, but no organic mark was affixed only because there was no organic processing. Lin Li-fang, deputy director-general of the Agriculture and Food Agency, confirmed that Chulu Farm did apply to grow roselle in an organic plot, but this batch of roselle in which pesticide was detected was very likely purchased from other places, mixed, processed and packaged because the amount of roselle the operator grew was insufficient, and an investigation along these lines is not ruled out.