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Lawmakers seek to relax health food regulations

Unregulated health foods sold through underground radio stations based on hosts' recommendations and anecdotal guarantees are jeopardizing public health, but the real problem lies with overly strict laws on health foods, legislators said yesterday.

Some legislators proposed loosening laws regulating health foods because only 46 products had been approved since 1999, when the Health Food Control Act (健康食品法) was enacted.

"Strict regulations disadvantage Taiwan's biotech industry, resulting in uncontrolled selling of such products in the south," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Chung-yu (王鍾渝) said yesterday.

Wang said regulations needed to be revised because health foods seemed to be regarded as pharmaceuticals by the Department of Health.

The legislators suggested that certain products deserve to be approved as long as they meet standards laid out in the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Kao Ming-chien (高明見) said that the government should relax laws regulating health foods to boost the industry.

Kao estimated that people spent NT$15 million on health foods every year.

"It's difficult to verify the curative effects of health food products. We should amend the law to allow vendors to sell health foods by adding warnings on the products," Kao said.

Health officials said yesterday that that health food needs to be regulated carefully.

According to Chen Lu-hung (陳陸宏), director-general of the department's Bureau of Food Sanitation, the legislators wanted to loosen the Health Food Control Act to speed up the approval process.

"In the future, vendors of health food products can apply for approval as long as they have scientific evidence showing that the products are safe," Chen said.

Former Environmental Protection Administration chief Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) held a press conference yesterday to criticize legislators' proposals, saying the Department of Health should check all health food products strictly.
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