President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday pledged to strengthen inspections on food and beverage manufacturers and severely punish those with problematic products amid a scare over adulturated cooking oils.
Presiding over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee, Ma, who doubles as the party chairman, instructed the Ministry of Health and Welfare to hold a national food safety conference next month to address the issue.
“Food safety is a long-term issue, and the government will catch the bad manufacturers one by one and ensure food safety in Taiwan,” he said following the ministry’s report on the latest food safety scandal in which a major cooking oil company was found adulturating and mislabeling its oils.
Photo: CNA
As of Tuesday, the Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co had been fined NT$28.6 million (US$972,700) earlier this month, in accordance with the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), after authorities found that its products had been adulterated.
Suspicious consumers had questioned the quality of the firm’s cooking oil and tips from whistle-blowers in the company helped break the story.
Ma defended the government’s efforts to address food safety issues that have emerged in recent years, from plasticizers and toxic starch to the problematic cooking oils, and promised to increase manpower and budgets to enhance food safety.
“The problems have been there for a while, but they began to emerge only in recent years… It gives us a chance to examine the long-existing issues and resolve them,” he said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), in response to repeated media enquiries on whether he would take political responsibility for alleged negligence in the food inspection process, said he “takes full responsibility for cracking down on ‘black-hearted’ food suppliers.”
“No matter when [the incidents] happened, [even] if it was my predecessor in the office, I will take full responsibility,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said he disagreed with lawmakers who called for the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification — the government-backed label — be abolished on ground that the Chang Chi incident has proved the accreditation systems had been discredited.
Chang Chi was able to receive 17 GMP certifications for its edible oil products because it provided the Industrial Development Bureau with “misinformation about its manufacturing processes” to obtain the certificates, Duh said.
To address the loophole and others, the bureau is reviewing the GMP system and might require a manufacturer to present its import-export invoices and declarations and to allow on-the-spot inspection of its production lines when it seeks certification, Duh said.
The ministry will ensure that GMP is a guarantee for safety, Duh said, adding that “without the GMP system, consumers would be more exposed to unsafe foods.”
Duh said the ministry would complete ingredient testing of all 20 edible oil products advertised as 100 percent natural and unadulterated in two days and of all 129 blended cooking oil products within one week to ensure that products on the market are safe.
People who have information about suspicious food products can (02) 2325-0955, Duh said.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS