People yesterday took to the streets in Taipei to demand better food safety and protesting against Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團), which was involved in an adulterated cooking oil scandal.
The rally began at 2:15pm on Ketagalan Boulevard to the sound of a rap song created for the event with lyrics including: “We want food safety, to feel safe when we eat,” “Taiwan is famous for delicious food, but now even China is banning tainted food from Taiwan” and “We are against ‘black-hearted’ food.”
The event was initiated by Chang Jen-chi (張仁吉), who last year launched an online campaign to boycott Ting Hsin products.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Protesters criticized the not-guilty ruling handed down to former Ting Hsin employees by the Changhua District Court late last month over alleged breaches of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) after the firm was accused of using animal feed-grade oil and fat in cooking oil meant for human consumption in 2013.
“We urge amendments to the act so that anyone who has been found guilty in a food safety case is barred from operating a food company ever again,” Chang said, adding that the ban should also apply to close relatives of those found guilty.
“We are not only against Ting Hsin, but we also demand food safety,” Revolution Congress convener Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱) said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
“It is because Ting Hsin has food safety problems that we want to terminate it,” which is a way to demand food safety, said Wang, who helped organize the protest. “We want companies to know that society has the power to resist them, so companies will not keep looking for loopholes in the law.”
In response to questions about Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品工業), a subsidiary of Ting Hsin, Chang said that “because Ting Hsin has a stake of about 40 percent stake in Wei Chuan, for every NT$100 spent buying Lin Feng Ying (林鳳營) milk made by Wei Chuan, Ting Hsin makes NT$40.”
“We do not want Ting Hsin to make any money,” Chang said, referring to protests earlier in the week where Costco stores were targeted in a milk-buying-and-refund campaign.
On Facebook, the organizers invited Wei Chuan managing director Michael Su (蘇守斌) to join the parade and said the firm should buy back its shares from Ting Hsin.
A protester wearing a striped shirt mimicking jail clothing displaying the words “prisoner” and “guilty” said that having lived abroad for 23 years, he had seen several executives involved in food scandals apologize to the public and face judicial punishment.
The man, surnamed Wu (吳), said he felt that the Ting Hsin case had left Taiwanese feeling cheated, as those things had not happened in this case.
A man surnamed Wang (王) said he felt that the government had not done its job properly and had protected Ting Hsin.
“I feel hopelessness over the court’s ruling,” he said.
The protesters walked nearby streets chanting: “Food scandals revealed one after another, the people must take to the streets for justice” before returning to the start point in front of the Presidential Office Building at about 4pm.
There, participants were invited to speak.
Before the event ended at about 5:30pm, Wang Yi-kai said that they had communicated face-to-face with Executive Yuan officials earlier in the day concerning the demands of the public over food safety.
He said the demands included amendments to regulations, a new investigation into the Ting Hsin case, cooperation with other nations to initiate action against producers of unethical food, protection of labor rights for employees of unethical companies and bolstering laws to prevent conflicts of interest by government officials in food scandals, as well as increasing bonuses for people who report food safety problems.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
RSS