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Government panned over slashed food-safety budget

Although public concern about food safety is increasing, the government has been slashing budgets intended for tackling such issues, academics said yesterday, citing the results of a poll conducted by Academia Sinica.

Lin I-ping (林宜平), an assistant professor at National Taiwan University's (NTU) Department of Public Health, said that 87 percent of respondents said food safety was an extremely important public health issue, followed by 75 percent who cited chemical substances and 74 percent who cited air quality as being extremely important.

The results show a slight difference from a routine survey carried out in the EU, in which 64 percent of the people questioned said chemical substances posed the largest threat to public health, followed by 59 percent who referred to food safety and 51 percent who cited air quality.

However, Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), an NTU public health professor and chairman of the Risk Management Society of Taiwan, said the Department of Health has in recent years reduced its budget for research and development on food safety.

The department's budget for food safety control and technology development this year fell by 1.5 percent when compared with last year, Chan said.

At the same time, Japan increased its food safety budget by 7 percent, while the US increased its budget by 8.6 percent and Hong Kong allotted an additional 2.1 percent in funds, he said.

The department's budget for food safety control and technology development only accounted for 3.6 percent, 8.9 percent and 2.3 percent of its total annual budgets over the last three years, Chan said.

As public concern about the issue should serve as a major reference point for the government when it crafts policy and earmarks budgets, Chan said this is why the Risk Management Society of Taiwan was established last year, with the aim of further exploring public concern on the issue.

Against this backdrop, the group was scheduled to sponsor a seminar yesterday at NTU's public health college, in which experts and officials were expected to share their knowledge, the latest research results and practical experience in food safety with the public.

A series of food safety problems in recent years, such as dioxin-contaminated duck eggs, polluted oysters and beef possibly from cattle with mad cow disease, have created public concern.
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