Three Cases of Imported Frozen Fruits and Spices Exceed Residual Pesticide Standards... Customs Clearance Blocked

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 28th that it blocked the customs clearance of three imported frozen fruits and natural spices that exceeded the residual pesticide standards.

The Ministry conducted intensive residual pesticide inspections at the customs clearance stage on a total of 187 imported agricultural processed products, including frozen fruits and vegetables, spices, and teas, from the 19th of last month to the 14th of this month, confirming these cases.

This inspection expanded the scope of residual pesticide item inspections, which had previously been conducted only on agricultural products and infusion teas, to include simple processed agricultural products. The inspection targets included 81 fruit and vegetable processed products, 89 roasted coffee products, 14 natural spices, and 3 other agricultural processed products, totaling 187 products from 31 countries. The inspection items covered 510 types of residual pesticides, including metalaxyl (fungicide) and imidacloprid (insecticide).

As a result of the inspection, frozen strawberries from Peru, 38,996 kg of frozen bananas from Vietnam, and 38 kg of Japanese Sancho were judged non-compliant due to exceeding residual pesticide standards.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated that non-compliant products will be returned to the exporting countries or disposed of, and if the same products are imported in the future, five rounds of detailed inspections will be conducted to further strengthen safety verification procedures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.