Following another food safety scare after the possible contamination of locally produced infant formula, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday it plans to include Enterobacter Sakazakii tests in its mandatory food safety inspection procedures, possibly by as early as April.
Chinese media recently reported that infant formula produced by Taiwan’s Wei Chuan Corp (味全食品) was destroyed after testing positive for E. Sakazakii during inspections by Chinese customs officials.
Beside Wei Chuan, 13 other Taiwanese companies were reported to have produced foods that have not passed safety tests performed by Chinese officials between last August and November.
The names of the companies have been posted on the official Web site of China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
Although Wei Chuan’s possibly contaminated product was not being marketed in Taiwan, the food scare prompted Taiwan’s health officials to launch a probe into whether the products are indeed contaminated and determine at which points in the production or distribution process the problems, if any, occurred.
“If the [possibly contaminated] products are being sold in Taiwan, first, we have to confirm whether [the reports] are true, so we can take samples for testing,” said Lin Syue-rong (林雪榮), director of the Bureau of Food Safety.
“We need to get more details on what the situation is in China — whether something is wrong with the products, or some problem occurred during the shipping process,” she said. “We can’t make an assessment based solely on information from China.”
Lin said the DOH would send officials to inspect all factories where a problem could exist and, if necessary, issue fines and remove products from shelves.
In view of recent events, the health department said it was planning to add tests for E. Sakazakii to its mandatory food safety inspection procedure.
E. Sakazakii is a rod-shaped bacteria that can cause meningitis in newborns, as well as necrotizing enterocolitis, or tissue death in the digestive system.
Infections have been linked to infant formula, with a mortality rate of 50 percent.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a food safety committee created by the WHO, announced last year it would include in its Codex code criteria on limiting E. Sakazakii in powdered infant formula.
Although E. Sakazakii is very rare, the health department will meet with academics and experts to discuss including E. Sakazakii tests to ensure food safety, Lin said.
Once the plan is approved, the mandatory test could be in effect as early as April, she said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard