Taiwan. The issue is they have deemed it toxic. To be fair, many bean species are slightly toxic. Most plants for that matter. It seems absurd to me too, i assumed it was big food additive meddling with farmers haha.
So its still in grey areas as there is talk back on forth on outright ban still, but likely wont go anywhere. As is, swallowing the plant material seems to be the issue whereas water extracts are fine if filtered.
This all started happening last year and early this year. But its more about actual products from companies, they arent banning the plant and people growing and using it. But as a company, i cannot put it on the shelf as a powder now due to ingestion issue (my take on it).
I havent looked into it recently, but we do export to the USA, this month even, without issues. Though it is true that the Taiwan FDA does copy a lot of USA FDA rules and then edits them here and there. Kind of like GRAS. if the states’ gras is ok, its considered gras here. If the US doesnt state it, then there is a , shitty, database that can be referrenced here. If none of the above apply, one must go through the procedures to introduce new things to the food market. Most recently in meetings we had with a university/AG department Of the gov had to go through the FDA to allow annatto seeds to be considered safe as food, and even they detested the process…and they are the national government and R&D guys…
Needless to say, taiwan food security is sub par, and its good they are changing things. but knee jerk reactions to be sure. Pendulum.
Fun fact. Butterfly pea is not permitted by the FDA to be sold outside extraction use. Much in the same way other raw herbs are banned to be sold for swallowing purposes. Extracts are allowed (eg. Tea bags).
I just mentioned that the plant you posted is not c. ternatea or closely related to it (well … it’s still fabaceae, of course). I can’t remember what it’s called off the top of my head. The flowers and foliage look similar, but the seed pods are long and thin, not peapod-shaped.
Ohhh, haha. Sorry. I was making jokes on the genus name and the reference to the female clit. Wasn’t being serious. Just the flower morphology and how some folks in academia are either great at being literal or have a healthy sense of humor
