The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it soon plans to require all ramen stores with two or more shops in the city to register their ingredients to ensure food safety and disclose information about food products to the public.
Established in 2013, the city’s food ingredient registration Web site — Food Tracer Taipei — contains results from the health department’s food inspections, as well as data posted by stores and restaurants about the ingredients that they use.
There were 10 major categories of food establishments that need to register ingredients — including chain beverage and iced dessert stores, chain coffee shops, fast food restaurants and chain breakfast shops — and the health department announced that it has opened two new categories: chain Japanese ramen stores and traditional markets.
Fourteen Japanese ramen brands have already registered 95 types of products on the platform, including 682 ingredients, department section head Chen Yi-ting (陳怡婷) said.
The department is planning to require all ramen stores with two or more shops in the city to register their ingredients on the platform. Starting next month, it would gather feedback and expect to implement the regulation by next year at the earliest.
Eight traditional markets with 232 food stalls are using the platform, the Taipei Market Administration Office said, adding that four more markets would be included by the end of the year, a total of 350 food stalls.
The full disclosure of ingredients on the platform is a first step toward incorporating autonomous management and is in line with the city government’s principles of openness and transparency, Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) said.
Taipei is the food capital of the nation and many foreign and local cuisines are popular in the city, so the government and the restaurants have a responsibility to ensure that the public can enjoy safe and delicious food, Department of Health Commissioner Huang Shier-chieg (黃世傑) said.
People can scan QR codes of establishments on the registration platform to learn about the ingredients used in food products they want to purchase, he added.
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