Taipei: Shipments of fresh muskmelons from Japan and cakes from the Philippines were recently seized at Taiwan's border after testing showed excessive pesticide residues or preservatives, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, the 240-kilogram batch of muskmelons from Hokkaido, imported by Kaohsiung-based Yang Jhen Co., was found to contain 0.02 parts per million (ppm) of tetraniliprole, exceeding the legal limit of 0.01 ppm. Consequently, the fruit was either returned to Japan or destroyed. Following this finding, the importer will now face 100 percent inspection at the border instead of random checks, as stated by Liu Fang-ming, director of the TFDA's Northern Taiwan Management Center.

Between March 8 and September 8, the TFDA inspected 258 shipments of fresh melons from Japan, eight of which failed pesticide residue tests. Liu mentioned that since June 1, the TFDA has increased random inspections on Japanese melons, with sampling rates between 20 percent and 50 percent until October 31.

In a separate incident, a 537.6-kilogram batch of butterscotch cakes imported from the Philippines was seized at the border after being found with 1.2 g/kg of sorbic acid, a preservative, above the legal limit of 1.0 g/kg. The importer's future shipments will now be subject to enhanced random checks at a 20-50 percent rate.

Other noncompliant imports flagged in the TFDA's latest report include mandarins from Australia, radishes from China, broccoli from South Korea, and frozen sea urchin roe from Chile, all of which were returned or destroyed.