The government's decision to consider labeling genetically modified food and agriculture products could have a significant effect on a market worth billions of NT dollars annually.
Chen Shu-kong (
Chen said government officials and scholars tend to support GM-labeling, while manufacturers harbor doubts about Taiwan's inspection technology and procedures.
However, much depends on the results of an ongoing international conference in Montreal on genetically modified food.
"We will abide by the global biotechnology trade treaty that is reached at the Biosafety conference currently being held in Canada," an official from the Council of Agriculture told the Taipei Times.
Soybean and corn are the major agricultural products containing genetically modified genes. Most imported soybean and corn in Taiwan is used for the production of animal feed and edible oil, and a small portion is used to make food such as bean curd and soybean products.
According to statistics provided by the Food Industry Research & Development Institute, a government sponsored research organization, the annual production value of animal feed and edible oil is approximately NT$54 billion and NT$18 billion respectively.
Last year, Taiwan imported US$480 million of soybean and NT$17 billion of corn from the US.
According to the American Soybean Association, approximately 30 percent of the soybean imported from the US is GM.
"Should the government decide to label GM foods ... this will have a great impact on Taiwan's food companies," said an official from the association.
If consumers decide not to buy GM foods, then food companies will have to use non-GM grain as their raw material. According to the official, imported non-GM soybean is 40 percent more expensive than GM soybean.
An official from Uni-President, one of the leading local soy sauce manufacturers, said the company was unaware that the government is considering labeling GM food. As a result, they have yet to make any plans in response.
But Great Wall Group, Taiwan's largest animal feed manufacturer, is not perturbed by any such government decision.
"I don't think animal feed will be required to be labeled. So I don't think our company will be affected," said Mark Han, president of the group. Anyway, Han said, labeling will have a bigger effect on food products that are consumed directly by consumers.
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