Several shipments of Vietnamese black pepper imported into Taiwan (China) have been warned due to the detection of red sudan exceeding the maximum allowable residue limit.

According to the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association (VPSA), on December 6, 12, VPSA received a warning from the Ministry of Industry and Trade about the Office of Economy Taipei (Taiwan, China) Culture at Ha Noi Announcement that some shipments of black pepper exported from Vietnam to Taiwan were contaminated with red sudan.

Taiwan has now issued a regulation MRL (maximum residue limit) for red sudan at 0,01 ppm. Due to the discovery of a phenomenon of pepper with a high probability of being contaminated with sudan, in the past 3 months, Taiwanese authorities have tested 100% of imported pepper samples and discovered 2 shipments contaminated with sudan exceeding the permitted MRL.

Then, on January 8, 1, VPSA received a warning from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that Taiwan continued to detect red sudan in Vietnamese pepper and related spice products.

Specifically, Taiwan has announced that it will temporarily suspend import inspection procedures for 35 product groups of violating enterprises such as: pepper, star anise, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, vanilla, sauces, etc.

Regarding this issue, on VPSA's side, immediately after receiving the warning information from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the association sent a warning to businesses and requested all exporting and purchasing businesses to immediately take timely preventive and control measures, widely notify and request agents, farmers and other related entities in the supply chain from the garden to the factory to stop and replace the use of red packaging and containers for fresh and dried pepper with white packaging immediately (do not use drying tarps or colored bags).

VPSA believes that, in the context of the 2025 pepper crop being about to be harvested, it is extremely necessary to urgently adjust processing and harvesting methods for farmers and agents.

VPSA is also continuing to compile information and report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development about the Ministry's warning. According to VPSA, through this incident, businesses need to be even more careful in testing products, especially when exporting to demanding markets.

Sudan dye, commonly known as sudan dye, is an industrial dye used to color plastics and other synthetic materials red.

Sudan red is world classified as toxic dyes because they have the potential to cause cancer by damaging the DNA of cells. There are four types of Sudan found: sudan 1 to sudan 4 (scarlet).

Source: Vietnam.vn