TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed on Wednesday (Sept. 13) that authorities are recycling a batch of erroneously labeled eggs imported from Brazil, roughly estimated to have 2,000 cartons, equaling 20,000 eggs, supplied to the supermarket chain PX Mart.
In a morning press briefing, Wei Jen-ting, director of the FDA's Southern Center, shared, "Our preliminary estimation is that around 600 to 900 cartons can be recalled."
"The precise number will be based on our retrieval from store to store, so we will have a more accurate figure after we make an inventory," Wei added.
Lin Chin-fu, FDA's deputy director, stated that falsely labeled products could face fines ranging from NT＄40,000 to NT＄4 million under food safety regulations. The recalled eggs can be resold after correction and upon approval by health authorities, as this batch of imported eggs has an expiry date of Sept. 24, instead of the labeled date of Oct. 5.
Addressing controversies over whether the eggs were being coated with wax or not, Lin explained, "The local egg farm being inspected does not include wax coatings after egg washing in its process, which means these 2,000 cartons of eggs being sold to PX Mart were not coated with wax after being washed."
Lin, however, mentioned that the FDA has no information about egg waxing from the data provided by the egg importer, and expressed uncertainty about whether these Brazilian eggs might be waxed before being imported to Taiwan or not.
The FDA's remarks came a day after Tai Nong Egg Products Ltd. admitted to mislabeling the expiration dates on its imported Brazilian eggs, stating that a complete recall and de-shelving had taken place.