November 20, 2003

 

 

Taiwan To Step Up Inspection of Eel Exports To Japan; A Move Interpreted To Rebuild Its Reputation
 

All Japan-bound eel exports will be subject to pre-shipment inspection in order to rebuild the reputation of Taiwan's eel farming industry, Taiwan's top agriculture administrator said Wednesday.

 

Lee Chin-lung, chairman of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA), made the remarks at a Legislative Yuan budget-screening meeting.

 

From November 12 onwards, the COA decided to suspend eel exports to Japan for three weeks after the Japanese authorities detected banned chemical residue on two shipments of live and roasted eels from Taiwan.

 

"We'll impose an across-the-board pre-shipment inspection on all Japan-bound eel exports when the temporary export ban expires, " Lee told lawmakers. "The stringent requirement is necessary to rebuild our business reputation."

 

Lee said only 600 kg of Taiwan eel products exported to Japan were found to have contained small amounts of the banned chemical residue (0.23 to 0.28 parts per million.)

 

"It's a small portion compared to our total annual eel exports to Japan which reach an average of 18 million kg," Lee said, adding that the quality of most Taiwan-farmed live eels and processed products are of high quality.

 

Lee said the COA's Fishery Administration has sent staff members to Japan to meet with their Japanese counterparts on rebuilding trust in eel quality inspection.

 

In addition to chemical residue testing, Lee said, the COA will also check the origin of all outbound eel shipments in order to prevent unscrupulous food processors from smuggling mainland China-farmed eels into Taiwan for delivery to Japan as Taiwan-cultured ones.

 

The "origin" checks will be adopted after some local eel farmers said they suspect that the eels found by Japanese inspectors to bear banned sulfadimethoxine residue might be of mainland China origin, Lee said.

 

Taiwan used to export worth up to US$500 million of eels to Japan and the United States annually in the 1970s and 1980s, but exports declined significantly in the 1990s due to competition from mainland farmers, who specialize in selling spiced roasted eels to Japan at very low prices, securing a large market share.

 

However, mainland eels were now not as popular as it used to be to the Japanese in recent years due to banned chemical residues detected in the products. Taiwan eels then gradually reclaimed their market niche.

 

"Taiwan eels have been welcomed in Japan as their quality is far better than that of mainland eels," Lee said.

 

In the past, only 5% of Taiwan eels had to be inspected before entering the Japanese market.

Lee urged local farmers to control the use of drugs in eel farming to protect their reputation and market niche in Japan. Local food processors should also refrain from smuggling mainland eels into Taiwan, as this also spoils the industry's image, he added.

 

Since last Tuesday, Lee said, the Taiwan Eel Farming Foundation has collaborated with eel farming cooperatives around the island and with the Taiwan Frozen Seafood Industries Association in requiring eel farmers to send samples of their products to various aquacultural service centers for residue testing for 12 chemicals, including oxolinic acid and sulfadimethoxine, which is an anti-bacterial drug.