October 6, 2005

Taiwan finds contaminated New Zealand beef

Taiwanese health officials have seized seven boxes of imported beef from New Zealand, which were tainted with endosulfan, an insecticide harmful to human health.

Endosulfan, a highly toxic pesticide that affected the central nervous system, has been banned or severely restricted in many countries worldwide.

The tainted beef came from 77 boxes of New Zealand beef imported by three Taiwanese companies in September.

Taiwan's government earlier found that tests conducted in South Korea revealed endosulfan levels in the New Zealand beef had reached 0.5 ppm, much higher than Taiwan's maximum allowable level of 0.1 ppm.

Taiwan's government in turn contacted the New Zealand government about the matter.

In response, the New Zealand Food and Safety Authority traced the source of the pesticide residue to an individual farm, where a farmer had reportedly sprayed 10 cattle with endosulfan to kill cattle ticks, causing the animals to absorb the insecticide.

However, New Zealand's government said that while the endosulfan levels found might have higher than internationally approved levels for beef, they fell well within limits for vegetables and small fruit and were not harmful to human health.