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.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan