The recent food safety crisis could serve as a turning point for the nation’s food industry if the government, manufacturers, wholesalers and the public make a joint effort to resolve the situation, the Taiwan Association for Food Science and Technology said on Monday at a forum on food safety.
All the representatives of civic groups present at the forum agreed that it is the government’s duty to ensure the safety of food “from the field to the table,” which it can achieve by strengthening and rigorously enforcing food regulations, providing transparent and free access to food safety information, and adhering to international food safety standards, the association said in a statement.
Lucy Sun (孫璐西), a National Taiwan University professor of food science and technology and a honorary member of the association’s board, urged the government to immediately take three critical steps: First, it should eradicate the presence of harmful chemicals in food products by writing into law severe criminal punishments for those who violate regulations.
Second, it should launch a whistle-blowing platform to encourage the reporting of dubious practices, with rewards and protection offered to informants.
Third, the government should establish a “food police force, who can accompany food sanitation and safety inspectors when they conduct spot checks at factories,” Sun said.
According to a report presented by the Food and Drug Administration at the 2011 National Food Safety Conference, there are 102,202 registered food manufacturers, and 263,293 food stalls and registered food businesses nationwide.
In contrast, there are only 471 people in charge of inspecting food, which means that every inspector is responsible for 96 food manufacturers and 555 businesses.
Consumers’ Foundation board member Hwang Yu-sheng (黃鈺生) suggested revising the current food labeling regulations to require manufacturers to list ingredients and additives separately.
“Food product labels have to be clear and easily understood by consumers, and one way of achieving this is to have different labels for raw materials and additives,” Huang said.
Calling on food manufacturers and wholesalers to improve their self-management, Nutrition Society of Taiwan honorary director-general Wang Chin-kun (王進崑) encouraged businesses to only hire qualified food specialists as purchasing agents to guarantee the professional management of food products throughout the production and retailing chain.
For their part, consumers should carefully examine the products they purchase, Homemakers United Foundation president Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) said, cautioning buyers against purchasing products with unclear labels or substandard packaging.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS