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Pesticide scare stirs Taiwan's teacups

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nearly 36 tonnes of tea have been pulled from shelves in Taiwan after official checks that began when one such product on the island was found to be contaminated with pesticide in mid April.

Taiwan's food and drug watchdog said on Wednesday it had sampled 388 tea products and found 33 of them contained excessive pesticide residues.

A total of 35,673 kg of deficient products had been pulled from shelves as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the watchdog said.

Last month, a rose tea sold by a branch of the Stornaway tea chain in Miaoli County was found to be tainted with DDT.

Follow-up checks showed beverages in Stornaway's other shops and popular Taiwanese tea chains including Coffee Alley, Madam Rose Coffee and Tea Salon, 50 Lan and Easy Way also contained excessive pesticide residues.

Violators involved in this latest Chinese food and drink scandal could face up to seven years in jail and a fine up to 80 million New Taiwan Dollars (2.61 million U.S. dollars), according to Taiwan's food and drug authority. Endi