Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday said that the discoveries of illegal additives and mixtures in various food products were “heart-wrenching” incidents and he called on entrepreneurs to “run [their] businesses righteously.”
Jiang made the remarks when he met with the winners of the 22nd National Awards for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) set up in 1992 to encourage the development of Taiwanese SMEs.
The handful of people who produced problematic cooking oil for the sake of “seeking exorbitant profits” have damaged the nation’s credibility, although most SMEs work very hard on their reputation, Jiang said.
However, it is ironic that Flavor Full Foods, which confessed yesterday that it had used refined cottonseed oil in products it sold in Taiwan, contradicting its earlier statement that all its products containing refined cottonseed oil were sold overseas, was a winner of a National Award three years ago.
Earlier yesterday at a weekly Cabinet meeting, Jiang said the entire government should unite to assist in handling the recent incidents because “food safety is not just the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.”
Jiang was looking to support Health and Welfare Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達), who on Wednesday said he would take full responsibility for the incidents.
Jiang asked all Cabinet members to follow a six-point directive.
All tainted products must be removed from the shelves and the owners of the businesses producing the products should be held accountable in accordance with the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), while lists of problematic products and lists of products proven safe should be made public at the earliest possible time, Jiang said.
The related agencies must review the food safety certification regime — Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and the Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS) systems — to better ensure that that products certified with the labels meet food safety, quality and legal requirements, Jiang said.
Jiang said the government would also establish a mechanism under which food products would be tested by academics or food safety organizations before being allowed onto the market, in addition to being tested by the manufacturer itself and the government’s food safety regime.
Jiang asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to deal with any fallout caused by the incidents on food exports to overseas markets.
Minister Without Portfolio Simon Chang (張善政) was assigned by Jiang to lead a task force to reinforce inspection of primary food products on the market to determine whether they contain illegal ingredients.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said food safety authorities should be held responsible for the scandal and urged the central government to speed up its efforts to resolve the issue.
“The authorities should take responsibility for the food safety problems that have occurred over and over again. Such scandals have not only damaged public health, but also hurt the nation’s economy and international reputation,” Hau said in an interview with Broadcasting Corp of China.
Asked to comment on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) instruction that the Ministry of Health and Welfare should hold a national food safety conference next month, the mayor said such a meeting could strengthen coordination between different government agencies handling food safety issues, but he urged the government to take action immediately.
“Food safety is an urgent matter and action must be taken now in order to prevent illegal manufacturers from damaging the people’s health,” he said.
In addition to the government’s efforts, Hau said whistle-blowers in the industry should be encouraged.
The Taipei City Government has formed a task force to inspect the cooking oils used in restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores, while helping customers with refunds, he said.
Taipei Department of Health Commissioner Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) said the department tested three oil products from Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co and Flavor Full Foods, and found no raw cottonseed oil in them. However, Flavor Full Foods failed to list refined cottonseed oil as an ingredient in its oil products.
The city will ask supermarkets and convenience stores to take the company’s products off their shelves, and those who refuse to cooperate would face a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$1,020 and US$102,000), he said.
The Taipei Department of Economic Development said it is checking the use of cooking oils at 54 traditional markets and 14 night markets around the city to make sure that Chang Chi oil products are not used in those markets.
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