The legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) that imposes stiffer penalties for food safety violations amid an ongoing food scare centered on the use of the chemical di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP.
To deter the use of banned food ingredients and additives, the maximum fine for violations has been raised to NT$6 million (US$208,000), from NT$300,000.
The amendment stipulates that food or food additives that are unripe and thus harmful to human health, are toxic or contain substances that are harmful to human health, or are contaminated by pathogens, among others, shall not be manufactured, processed, prepared, packaged, transported, stored, sold, imported, exported, presented as a gift or publicly displayed.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Violators may be forced to close their businesses or have their license revoked in severe cases. At present only those found in violation for at least a second time face such penalties.
If the violations were found to have a detrimental effect on human health, manufacturers of food products, food processors and vendors may be fined up to NT$10 million or face a maximum of seven years in prison, compared with the current fine of NT$900,000 and three years in prison.
The amendment will take effect after it is promulgated by the president. It will not retroactively apply to cases involved in the recent plasticizers scare.
Later yesterday, at the request of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) briefed the legislature on the government’s handling of the incident.
Wu apologized to the public once again for the government’s failure to uncover the problem earlier. DEHP has been used as a substitute for palm oil for 20 years.
Wu said the products contaminated with plasticizers are pervasive because they involve about 400 businesses that produce and sell about 1,000 food products, beverages and nutritional supplements classified according to five categories.
The contaminated products have been exported to 16 countries and areas — the US, China, the EU, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia, South Africa, Argentina, Egypt, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Macau and Singapore, Wu said.
The government will continue to crack down on contaminated foods and ensure that all food products on shelves are plasticizer-free beginning next week, he said.
Wu said the Consumer Protection Commission would work with the Ministry of Justice’s Association for Victims Support to assist consumers in seeking compensation from food processors.
However, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) refused to answer when DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) asked whether plasticizers were also used in cosmetics and medicines to prolong their shelf life.
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