Three Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials are to face disciplinary measures, while two are to receive merit awards amid a scare about foodstuffs imported from Japan’s Fukushima region that has implicated more than 10 trading firms and 250 products, Ministry of Health and Welfare spokesman Wang Che-chao (王哲超) said yesterday morning.
Wang’s announcement during a press conference in Taipei came one day after Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) had asked the ministry to look into the FDA’s alleged delayed publication of findings that a number of Taiwanese companies had illegally imported food products from five banned Japanese prefectures by fabricating labels of origin.
“Premier Mao also instructed the ministry to discipline all responsible parties, reflect on its mistakes and make necessary improvements,” Sun on Thursday quoted Mao as saying.
Wang said a section head responsible for border inspection and registration at the Keelung Harbor Office of the FDA’s Northern Center, surnamed Huang (黃), was demoted over his failure to promptly report his discovery of the illegal practice to his superiors.
The Keelung Harbor Office reportedly discovered on Feb. 26 that the soy sauce products imported by Taipei-based Sheng Yu Trading Co (盛裕貿易) were labeled as being produced in Tokyo, but were actually manufactured in Chiba and Gunma prefectures.
The batch of soy sauce products in question had been imported into the country on Feb. 4.
However, the FDA only launched raids on importers and ordered a preventive recall of potentially questionable food products on Thursday last week, and did not release its findings until late on Tuesday.
“FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) and Northern Center for Regional Administration Director Feng Jun-lan (馮潤蘭) have cited their own negligence in handling the matter and requested discipline,” Wang said.
The pair’s request is to be reviewed by the ministry at a personnel performance evaluation meeting, Wang said.
However, an official and assistant researcher responsible for border inspection at Keelung Harbor, surnamed Tseng (曾) and Ko (柯) respectively, are to be awarded a mark of merit for their actions, which led to the discovery of illicit items, Wang said.
Meanwhile, Chiang defended her agency at a separate event yesterday.
She said it took time for the FDA to investigate the alleged illegal imports and that the agency’s officials had done their utmost to quickly decipher the place of origin code printed on some of the potentially problematic foodstuffs.
She said she asked for discipline because of the negative public perceptions of the FDA because of the latest food scare.
“The decision not to release the findings earlier was merely meant to allow us to give the public a clearer picture of the event when we did [release them],” Chiang said.
A total of 299 food items have been subjected to a preventive recall as of yesterday, which means that the products had to be removed from shelves as of midnight last night.
None of the potentially questionable foodstuffs tested so far have been found to contain radioactive content.
Foodstuffs from five Japanese prefectures — Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba — near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which suffered radiation leaks after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, were banned from being imported into Taiwan shortly after the plant’s meltdown.
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