The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would mediate between noodle companies and rice farmers to cooperate on contract farming, and promote the Certified Agricultural Standard (CAS) label to guarantee product quality.
The council made the comment in response to recent finding by independent consumers’ rights organizations that nearly 90 percent of rice-noodle brands sold in the country are not as pure as their makers claim.
Of the 52 rice-noodle brands purchased from major wholesale and retail chains, 45 were found to have been adulterated, said Consumers’ Foundation chairman Mark Chang (張智剛) said, adding that 39 of the 45 substandard products, or 75 percent, were discovered to contain less than 20 percent rice.
Photo: Ho Tsung-han, Taipei Times
According to the national standard, rice vermicelli is defined in two types. The first is made of pure rice flour, so that the raw protein in each portion can reach 5 percent or higher. The other type is made of mixed-grain flour or starch, but the raw protein must account for more than 2.5 percent.
Agriculture and Food Agency Director Li Tsang-lang (李蒼郎) yesterday said the spirit of the Food Management Act (糧食管理法) was to secure food safety, by first guaranteeing sufficient food supply and then the quality of the food.
Since vermicelli rice noodles are manufactured food products, they contain more than one ingredient and may contain additives, so the problem lies in whether they are labeled truthfully, Li said.
He added that there are already articles in the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) and the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法) that regulate false labeling, so more discussion would be needed to determine whether the Food Management Act should be amended to regulate the situation.
“Starches appearing in vermicelli rice noodles is not something that happened just yesterday,” COA Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) said, adding that the existing laws do not actually regulate on this issue, but the council will promote Taiwanese rice and cooperate with related government agencies on regulating the product labels so consumers can easily ascertain the proportion of rice.
According to Li, about 90 percent of vermicelli rice noodles contain corn starch — a situation the agency is not pleased with.
He added that the council has decided to promote contract farming between food companies and farmers, or with the council, to purchase and store grains, starting in this year’s second harvest season.
The agency is also planning to screen for appropriate rice species to make vermicelli rice noodles and will urge food companies to apply for CAS labels, to guarantee that their products are made of good quality rice produced in Taiwan, Li added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS