The government is to revise regulations to require all imported milk to be labeled “milk” (牛乳) to separate it from domestically produced “fresh milk” (鮮乳), said the Cabinet’s Food Safety Office yesterday.
The plan has won the support of the local dairy industry, along with the ministries of agriculture, economic affairs, and health and welfare during an inter-agency meeting yesterday, and the new regulations are expected to be implemented in July next year, it said.
The health ministry in June last year published revised regulations stipulating that milk with a shelf life of 30 days or more should be called “extended shelf-life fresh milk,” sparking an outcry among local dairy farmers, as the nation was preparing to allow tariff-free imports of liquid milk products from New Zealand starting this year.
Photo: Taipei Times
While the Cabinet last month instructed the Food and Drug Administration to limit use of the label “fresh milk” to products with a shelf life not longer than 14 days, US and Japanese authorities expressed concern that such a non-scientifically based requirement might contravene WTO regulations.
The government is thus planning to stop using shelf life to distinguish between “fresh milk” and “non-fresh milk,” the health ministry said.
Imported milk would simply be labeled as “milk,” it said.
The “fresh milk” label, as well as the Traceable Agricultural Product and the Certified Agricultural Standard (CAS) labels, would continue to apply to locally produced fresh milk, including milk from sheep and cows, to differentiate it from imported milk, it added.
Dairy Farmer Association chairman Lee Hsun-tan (李恂潭), citing a government briefing earlier yesterday, said that only milk products that have obtained “domestic fresh milk” labels and CAS certification can be named “fresh milk,” while milk products made from milk ice cubes should be labeled “reconstituted milk.”
To allow time to preview the legal revisions and companies to redesign product packagings, the new regulations are expected to take effect in the second half of next year at the earliest, he said.
While the government’s proposal is not yet final as it said further discussions are needed, dairy farmers have expressed their support for the explicit distinction between domestic and imported milk, he said.
Dairy Association of Taiwan secretary-general Fang Ching-chuan (方清泉) said the proposed measures align with international standards stipulated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
The term “fresh milk” would also be banned from use in food products that are not made from fresh milk, he said.
Products named “fresh milk pudding” or “fresh milk cake” should have used fresh milk as an ingredient, otherwise it would be mislabeling, Fang added.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS