The Council of Agriculture yesterday said prosecutors are investigating the alleged use of industrial copper sulfate in animal feed.
The council made the remarks in response to a report in yesterday’s edition of the Chinese-language Next Magazine, which said that three or four companies had bought industrial copper sulfate and it suspected that meat from animals that had been given feed containing the substance had already entered the market.
The magazine said the companies bought the substance from a Taoyuan County-based company called Amia Co (昶昕).
Commenting on the report, the council confirmed that it received a report on the incident from a member of the public in Taoyuan in December last year. Prosecutors are now investigating whether Amia Co violated the Feed Control Act (飼料管理法) and the Veterinary Drugs Control Act (動物用藥品管理法).
In a statement released yesterday, Amia said it did not sell industrial copper sulfate to feed companies or poultry farmers.
Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌), a toxicologist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying yesterday that copper sulfate can act as an antibacterial agent for animals and can aid their digestion. Yang added that the possibility of overdosing on the substance, which can cause anemia or damage the liver when taken in large amounts, is very low.
However, the accumulation of copper sulfate in chicken or pigs, and in the human body, is possible, he said.
Later yesterday, the council held an impromptu press conference to explain the discovery of industrial copper sulfate in animal feed.
Animal Industry Department Deputy Director Lee Chun-chin (李春進) said that, after getting the report from a civilian surnamed Chen (陳) on Dec. 1 last year, inspections by the council found that of the six companies that had bought industrial copper sulfate from Amia, one had sold the substance to four animal feed factories.
Andrew Wang (王忠恕), a section chief at the council’s Animal Industry Department, said based on the Feed Control Act, the council has reported one of the four companies to the Taipei City District Court for investigation and fined it NT$18,000.
The company’s feed had been found to contain copper sulfate exceeding standard limits, Wang said, adding that it also violated the law by only having a animal feed vendor registration certificate, but not a certificate to import or manufacture animal feed containing copper sulfate.
The council said since the investigations are ongoing, it would not release the name of the vendor.
Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Economics Committee yesterday at the legislature, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) was questioned by lawmakers over a series of food safety issues, ranging from the reliability of the recently released report on whether the council was at fault for concealing avian influenza outbreaks, to the allegations concerning the use of copper sulfate in animal feed.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said a recording that alleged that Hsu Tien-lai (許天來), former head of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, attempted to conceal an avian influenza outbreak in 2009, to which Chen Bao-ji said he would send the case to the Control Yuan for investigation.
The lawmakers said the public was losing confidence in the council’s abilities and its problem-solving skills in light of the recent string of issues concerning food safety.
Several legislators were not satisfied with the council’s crisis management skills, questioning why the council concealed information from the public and why it does not have a clear understanding of how much tainted animal feed may already be on the market.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS