It was recently revealed that Shanghai Husi Food Co repackaged and resold chicken and beef that was past its sell-by date, and Chinese media have now revealed that supermarkets in China sell rice that has been tested and found to contain genetically modified (GM) components. This shows that Chinese genetically modified rice is quietly entering rice farming and, by extension, both the domestic Chinese and international markets for regular food consumption. As a result, the Chinese food security issue is resurfacing.
Taiwanese officials say that Taiwan imports neither meat products from Shanghai Husi nor Chinese rice and rice products, but given the brisk pace of agricultural trade and private sector germplasm exchanges across the Taiwan Strait in recent years, the authorities must not take too lightly the possibility that such products may have entered Taiwan through other channels.
They must now tighten controls in order to handle the issue.
The Shanghai Husi meat and the genetically modified rice scandals show that there is vast room for improvement in every aspect of China’s food security controls, including legislation, enforcement and punishment.
It also shows that the push for trade liberalization has led to a greater diversity of raw material and product sources and is having a far-reaching impact.
The meat scandal, for example, affected Japan, which has among the strictest food controls in the world and whose industry has very stringent demands on suppliers, creating a scare among Japanese consumers. Consumers have always thought of “Made in Japan” products as trustworthy, meticulously manufactured and of high quality, so businesses have been quick to handle the fallout of the scandal.
In addition to apologizing to consumers, they immediately stopped selling the products and changed suppliers, and they also reviewed their supply chain to prevent something similar from happening again. The Japanese government was quick to initiate a food security dialogue with China to prevent a recurrence of such events. It also addressed the issue of the food and beverage industry starting to label goods with the country of origin both of the finished product and the raw ingredients. These are all steps that Taiwan would do well to learn from.
As for the food security incident with the genetically modified rice, the Chinese government may have announced that it has not allowed the commercial cultivation of such products, but it has already spread to several provinces. As this rice cannot be separated from regular rice by visual inspection, rice traders and consumers are unable to separate the two and thus cannot take risk-management measures.
The EU has always adopted very strict import controls on genetically modified crops and it has in the past frequently found illegal genetically modified components in rice products imported from China. Although it applies strict import controls on rice product imports from China and also requires that test reports showing that the products contain no genetically modified components be provided before the export takes place, it remains difficult to avoid such imports.
It can be foreseen that market liberalization will lead to an increased burden on food-security control work, that the number of tests will increase and that these tests will become increasingly difficult and complex. These issues must be addressed sooner rather than later.
Taiwan can improve by learning from others. The series of serious food security issues in China has led to concerns that the imports of raw materials from other countries — including controlled Chinese agricultural products — that will be involved in the production of value-added agricultural products in the free economic pilot zones, will increase the food security risk.
Given restrictions in manpower and equipment, if there are any mistakes in the controls, problematic raw materials will affect the quality of finished product exports with the Made in Taiwan (MIT) label, and this would have a major impact on the reputation of the MIT brand.
Consideration should therefore be given to labeling goods with the country of origin both of the finished product and the raw ingredients, to separate these products from MIT products.
In particular, the free economic pilot zones will allow far-reaching imports of agricultural raw materials from other countries for processing, and this will increase the risk that genetically modified products will enter the manufacturing process.
Furthermore, careful research should be carried out to ascertain whether allowing the production and export of genetically modified ornamental fish would have an impact on the production and export of Taiwan’s non-genetically modified products, including fish for consumption. This issue cannot be addressed simply by saying that “it is not allowed” or that “such products are not imported.”
As President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said, complementary measures are necessary to put the minds of consumers at ease.
Du Yu is chief executive officer of the Chen-Li Task Force for Agricultural Reform.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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