As the high season for hairy crabs from China — also known as Dazha crabs, which are considered a delicacy — is approaching, importers should have started preparing for paperwork, including import permits and quarantine documents, to pave the way for their imports, said Hsieh Ting-hung, deputy director of the DOH Bureau of Food Safety.

No Chinese hairy crabs were imported via legal channels last year as the Chinese authorities would not issue safety documents for China’s hairy crab exports to Taiwan, according to Hsieh.

After traces of cancer causing substances were detected in crabs imported from China in 2006, the DOH began in 2007 to impose stricter entry screening measures for such imports — measures including that official quarantine certificates must be issued by Chinese authorites to prove that hairy crabs supplied by the 42 officially recognized Dazha crab farms in China are safe to eat, and that imports should cease if residues of cancer-causing substances are detected in three batches of crabs.

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