It is not surprising to see successive reports about safety concerns over tea leaves. The reason is that production of edible flowers — such as roses and chrysanthemums among others, as well as Chinese herbal medicine ingredients, such as goji berries, black dates and red dates — not only requires strict regulation of pesticide use, daily maintenance and withdrawal periods, it also requires inspection before products can be allowed to enter the market.
The costs are higher than for flowers that are not intended for consumption, which means that prices go up. Add to this the fact that the area used for the production of edible flowers and herbal medicines is limited, as is the volume produced, it is clear that Taiwanese farmers cannot possibly meet the huge domestic demand of tea shops, restaurants and other eateries. Based on cost and demand considerations, the obvious option is to turn to foreign sources.
In developed regions such as the EU, the importance of food safety is paramount. This means strict regulations exist on the use of pesticides, antibiotics and fertilizers. In addition, farmers generally have a clear understanding of environmental protection, food safety and the use of pesticides, and before products enter the market, they pass through strict government checks to reduce the risk of food safety hazards.
However, as prices are high, import volumes and the willingness to import are naturally low. The same is true for the olive oil industry. The most feasible response is to import from regions with larger yields that offer lower prices and have looser food safety regulations; add chemicals such as artificial flavoring; change labels; or mix products with higher quality domestically grown goods before they are sold. The chances of being caught are slim to none.
Most tea leaves in Taiwan come from either Vietnam — approximately 70 percent — Sri Lanka, India or China. Roses are imported from Germany, China, Morocco and Sri Lanka among others. However, although tea leaves or rose tea materials imported from Vietnam and China often posed problems in the past, regulators have not been able to raise their awareness, proactively enforce border checks and market inspections, or issue documents requesting that authorities in exporting nations propose improvements to existing measures, which means that those in charge are partly to blame for the recurring food safety problems.
There is no magic cure to alleviate food safety problems; the only way to deal with the issue is to take a multi-pronged approach.
First, the government should actively push for a designated production zone model to encourage existing greenhouse facilities to produce ingredients and medical materials to avoid agricultural pollution from neighboring land. Achieving a “zero detection rate” of global environmental pollution is not an easy goal, but some pesticides are especially harmful to human health. In Taiwan, where cancer rates, in particular colon cancer, are high and where there is a lack of comprehensive evaluations and complimentary measures, inspection requirements should be increased.
Second, a traceability system for domestic and foreign food products — including raw materials such as tea leaves and roses — should be established as soon as possible to clearly grasp the supply flow and require that consumer products like beverages carry labels that clearly specify the source of raw materials to allow easy identification of a product’s sources and facilitate controls.
Third, courts should speed up their decisionmaking process. In past cases involving tainted food scandals, judges have mostly issued light sentences. For example, a food manufacturer that had been bleaching white bean sprouts for 10 years got a slap on the wrist of eight months in prison, commutable to a fine, and in the Flavor Full (富味鄉) tainted oil scandal, after chief executive Chen Wen-nan (陳文南) admitted to supplementing cooking oil with low-quality fillers, judges gave him a lenient sentence of one year and four months with two years probation. In addition, the finalization of verdicts are also dragged out for too long.
These conditions essentially give other manufacturers more incentive to continue their illegitimate practices. Judges maintain that the main rationale behind their verdicts has been a lack of concrete evidence to show that tainted food products were harmful to public health. However, the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), which was amended late last year, has already reversed the burden of proof and now requires manufacturers to provide proof that their products are harmless and the required checks have been made. In confronting rampant food safety violations, judges should consider the importance of food safety to the public and expedite trials, as well as give out harsher sentences to curb the production of harmful products.
Fourth, administrative efficiency should be improved. Giving citizens freedom from living in fear is a government’s fundamental role. Yet, no matter how good a system or measures, individuals must still be relied on to implement policy. As of now, the public is not satisfied with the efficiency of government officials. In free, democratic countries, citizens can remove an inept government through the voting booth.
Besides complaining, Taiwanese should use their vote to elect wise and able candidates. This is the only way food safety issues can be brought to an end.
Lee Wu-chung is a professor of agricultural economics and a former director of the Yunlin County Department of Agriculture.
Translated by Zane Kheir
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