Taipei: A 75,000-kilogram shipment of imported Vietnamese black rice was blocked at the border after pesticide residue was detected, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Tuesday. The batch was found to contain 0.04 parts per million (ppm) of oxolinic acid, the TFDA said in its weekly report on imported food and product safety.

According to Focus Taiwan, under Taiwan's Standards for Pesticide Residue Limits in Foods, oxolinic acid must not be detectable in rice, with the limit of quantification set at 0.02 ppm. Between Nov. 11, 2025, and May 11, 2026, seven of the 38 Vietnamese brown rice shipments submitted for inspection failed to meet Taiwan's standards, all due to pesticide residue violations, the TFDA said.

This represented a non-compliance rate of 18.4 percent, the agency stated. As rice is a staple food, all imported rice is subject to a 100 percent inspection rate, which will remain unchanged, according to the TFDA.

In a separate case mentioned by the TFDA, a 1.2-kilogram shipment of Japanese blueberries was found to contain 0.06 ppm of pyribencarb, a fungicide not permitted to be detected.