Yesterday, we reported on the health risk posed by Costco berries exported from the US to Taiwan. Today, Costco Taiwan has been barred from importing berries from the United States until June 2, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration stated.
The problematic berries came from a batch of 15,236 kilos of imported blueberries seized by Customs. Costco submitted samples for testing on April 11, and they were found to contain the virus on May 1, said FDA Northern Center Deputy Director-General Lin Hsu-yang.
Those blueberries will be returned or destroyed in accordance with relevant regulations and will not reach the market, Lin said. More information on products that have failed inspection will be posted on the FDA's official website on May 23, Lin said.
Meanwhile, Costco said in a statement later Wednesday that the more recently detected batch of tainted frozen blueberries did not enter the market, and it has stopped selling all frozen berry products and halted all applications for importing berries.
Source: focustaiwan.tw