The Control Yuan, which oversees government procedure and practices, told government agencies and departments yesterday to refrain from holding or supporting eating contests or any other competitions that could damage the health of contestants.
“It is against social justice and fairness” when participants of eating contests seek national health insurance-covered medical treatment for illnesses caused by excessive or hasty food consumption during such competitions, Control Yuan members Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) and Yin Jeo-chen (尹祚芊) said in a report on their investigation into eating contests.
In recent years, the contests have become popular in Taiwan, Cheng and Yin said, involving ingredients and foods ranging from chilies, beer and hotdogs to beef noodles.
However, it is common to see participants in eating contests being rushed to hospital because of illness caused by eating too much or too fast, they said.
These people’s medical bills, derived from their participation in contests that challenge the boundaries of their physical endurance, however, are mostly paid for by the entire population of the country because of the national health insurance system, they said.
Although the Bureau of National Health Insurance asks the organizers of eating contests or similar competitions to pay for the medical bills of their contestants if it can prove the competition is the cause of the illness, the Department of Health should also take the initiative in monitoring such competitions, Cheng said.
In their report, Cheng and Yin also said the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the top authority in charge of the management of commercial activities, should establish regulations to restrict extreme activities and impose rules to regulate how such activities should be organized.
“Eating contests are not banned by the law, but they can be harmful to the health,” Cheng said.
Government agencies and departments in particular should not be organizing such activities, he said, citing examples including a braised pork rice-eating contest held by the Taipei City Government in 2007 to promote traditional Taiwanese cuisine.
Cheng and Yin also urged the National Communications Commission, the top authority responsible for regulating telecommunications and broadcasting services, to push media outlets to add words of warning to their video coverage of eating contests or similar competitions.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS