The government yesterday announced eight measures to increase oversight on food, including increases in fines and sentences for people convicted of adulterating foodstuffs.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) told a press conference that the government is increasing fines and rewards for informants, establishing a central government hotline, tightening control on edible oil products, ensuring waste oil is properly recycled, establishing a three-tier quality-control system, establishing a tracking system for foodstuffs and would overhaul the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) system.
Maximum prison sentences for people convicted of adulterating foodstuffs or improper advertising were raised to seven years, while fines were raised from NT$8 million to NT$80 million (US$265,000 to US$2.6 million), Jiang said.
Photo: CNA
Personnel or companies who knowingly manufacture products proved harmful are liable to prison sentences from seven years to life, up from one to seven years, or NT$200 million in fines, up from NT$20 million, Jiang said.
Manufactures found responsible for the death of consumers face a minimum of seven years in prison up to a life sentence, with fines of up to NT$150 million, a change from current regulations, which have the same prison sentences, but company fines of up to NT$20 million.
Companies found to have produced food that causes severe harm to consumers can now be fined up to NT$150 million, compared with NT$15 million previously, Jiang said.
Jiang said the government followed world trends and had avoided death penalties, adding that it hoped to find other means to deter criminal activity rather than increase the number of death row inmates.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsu Ming-neng (許銘能) said the ministry was considering removing item 5 from Article 44 of the Food and Sanitation Act (食品衛生安全法), which covers the principle of double jeopardy, after the ministry canceled a NT$1.85 billion fine on Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co in an adulterated oil scandal last year.
Current regulations state that any given crime can only be punished according to one law, with certain regulations, such as the Criminal Code, holding precedence in legal hierarchy.
Jiang said rewards would be raised to 20 percent of fines issued from 10 percent previously, adding that the Executive Yuan also set up a clause to double rewards to current or former employees who reveal illegal conduct.
The government gave a NT$2 million reward to a 60-year-old farmer in Pingtung County who was a key figure in exposing the recent edible oil scandal, Jiang said.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration yesterday released a new list of products that were suspected to have been made using Chang Guann Co’s allegedly tainted lard products, but have now been cleared.
The list showed 52 products from 28 businesses after the food manufacturers reported to their respective municipal health agencies.
Chi Mei Frozen Food Co had all of its 20 baozi and dumpling skin products relisted, including baozi made with bamboo shoot stuffing, which were sold at 7-Eleven stores, the list showed.
Other brands include glutinous oil rice company Tyzek Food, and pastry and cake company Kuo Yuan Ye Foods, whose glutinous rice meal, and mushroom and stewed meat bride cake have been relisted.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from