Legislators yesterday warned that dangerous salt imported from China is on the market, urging the government to set up an institute to inspect edible salt.
"Some salt in circulation is not fit for consumption. It is made of industrial salts and cyclic salts," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏) told a press conference.
Wu said that originally, state-run Taiyen was the main producer of edible salt in the country.
The company's sales of edible salt had dropped by 18 percent and that of washed salts by 60 percent from 2003 to last year, he said.
"Given salt is a daily commodity, it is unreasonable that such a big reduction in the sales volume should have occurred. Only substitution of imported salt could explain it," he added.
The country opened its salt market to industrial salt, pure sodium chloride, and other salt -- all inedible salts -- on January 20, 2004, when the Statute for Salt Administration (鹽政條例) was abolished to conform with Taiwan's WTO commitments.
"Since then, some 35 to 50 percent of imported pure sodium chloride and other salts come from China, a figure that rises to about 50 percent to 70 percent if salts from China imported in the name of Thailand and Vietnam are included," Wu said.
Wu said that pure sodium chloride and other salts from China are unsafe because they lack iodine and might contain impurities and heavy metals.
"Long-term use of this kind of salt will impair brain development for babies under the age of one. Adults might suffer from thyroid enlargement," he added.
DPP legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), also present at the press conference, called on the government to set up an institute to inspect edible salt, which she said the government should have thought about when the statute was abolished.
Claiming that media reports had said China-produced salt might contain Tetrabromobisphenol A, a chemical used in industry, Tien said the substance can lead to disrupted hormonal activity.
"There are many salt products lacking adequate labeling in terms of their place of production and the ingredients they contain. Until the government is able to examine unidentified products, consumers would be better off choosing local salt," she said.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS