Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun stepping up inspections of imported tea leaves.
FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei announced Thursday that the FDA has drawn up a list of 47 countries that supply tea to Taiwan. Chiang said that the FDA is inspecting all tea imported from these countries. According to Chiang, the FDA will only start easing inspections after a certain number of batches meet food safety criteria.
The move comes following the appearance of residue from pesticides including DDT in tea served at a popular Taiwanese chain of teashops. The FDA determined that the chain uses tea leaves imported from a number of countries, including Iran, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Chiang said that local health departments across the country have also launched investigations into the safety of products sold at other similar chains. She said that these investigations should be complete within a month.