The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said it was in the process of proposing regulatory changes to require food and beverage manufacturers of a certain scale to hire technical experts to ensure that their food safety is up to par.
The latest food scare that began when authorities found contamination in ingredients sourced from Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司) and Pin Han Perfumery Co (賓漢香料公司) has prompted vows from lawmakers and government officials to stamp out illegally added harmful chemicals to foods, beverages, medicine and cosmetics.
The two firms have been found to use di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, and diisononyl phthalate, or DINP, respectively, in clouding agents they sold to food processors.
Photo: Huang Chi-yuan, Taipei Times
Health officials said proposed amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) would extend the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system to a more extensive list of food and beverage businesses, such as those who manufacture food additives and processed foods.
Businesses of a certain scale would be legally required to apply quality control management at every point in the manufacturing process and strengthen that process by having technical experts familiar with food sanitation codes on-site instead of the usual practice of hiring chemical engineers, said Tsai Shu-chen (蔡淑貞), chief of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food division.
“Chemical engineers may not be as familiar with food sanitation regulations as food scientists, who should be at manufacturing sites to ensure that the food products manufactured by a company adhere to the standards set forth by authorities,” Tsai said.
The government also wants to increase the maximum fines for food safety violations. Currently, violators who add illegal ingredients to food and beverages can be fined a maximum of NT$300,000 (US$10,500). Authorities want to boost the fines to between NT$1 million and NT$10 million, and increase the maximum prison term from three years to up to five years.
Meanwhile, Chen A-ho (陳阿和), the owner of Ging Kuo Wang (金果王), was detained by judges in Taipei yesterday for allegedly removing juice seized from his firm.
Chan and his son were called in for questioning yesterday. Shilin District (士林) prosecutors said Ging Kuo Wang bought questionable clouding agents from Yu Shen Chemical Co and added them to the juice it produces. The firm is the main provider to several vendors in the Shilin Night Market and other night markets, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they had seized two tonnes of questionable juice from the company and sealed it with official strips.
Chen’s son was released by prosecutors on bail of NT$150,000.
South Korea and China yesterday banned Taiwanese beverages, jams, syrups, jellies and other products suspected of DEHP contamination. Philippine authorities also ordered a massive recall of Taiwanese-made food and drink products.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang and AFP
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS