Northwest Horticultural Council
Country Alerts
Taiwan Increases Pesticide MRL Inspections
Current Situation: As of March 15, 2021, Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) has increased pesticide MRL inspection of U.S. apple imports to 20-50 percent of shipments. There have been nine non-compliance pesticide residue violations within the past six months, and a total of 13 violations since April 2019. Shippers are advised to be vigilant with product bound for Taiwan during this period.
If any importer importing a product under the same HS code product from the same origin has further detections, TFDA will inspect 100 percent of that importer’s shipments. This is now the case for one importer.
Increased inspection rates of 20 – 50 percent are expected through at least September 14, 2021. However, these increased rates may extend to a full six-month period following the last non-compliance violation. USDA Foreign Agriculture Service is still confirming how long the increased inspection rate period will last.
If there are no further detections during this six-month observation period, TFDA will revert to the standard testing rate of 2-10 percent.
Most recently, notices for two additional violations for the fungicide pyrimethanil (Penbotec) (MRL of 7ppm) were published on May 11, 2021.
Previous violations were:
- Three for pyrimethanil (MRL of 7 ppm) since December 2020.
- Four non-compliance violations for pyrimethanil between April 2019 and March of 2020.
- One for the fungicide Penthiopyrad (Fontelis), for which there is no established MRL.
- Three for the insecticide cyantraniliprole (Exirel) for which there is no established MRL.
Contact: If you have any questions, please contact Northwest Horticultural Council vice president for scientific affairs, David Epstein, at 509-654-3713.
Updated: 5/12/2021
