The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said that testing conducted on the raw milk provided to 13 dairy product factories boasting the Certified Agricultural Standard (CAS) label showed that all the raw milk met national standards.
An investigative report purporting to find plasticizer and animal-use drug residues — indicating the possible use of antibiotics, contraceptives and painkillers — in up to 70 percent of Taiwanese dairy products was published by the Chinese-language Business Weekly last week, sparking public concern over the safety of the nation’s milk.
The COA first announced its test results on eight of the nine products the magazine said contained residues of plasticizers, painkillers and 48 types of antibiotics last week, saying all met national standards.
The Food and Drug Administration then announced on Monday that its tests for the residues of substances that the magazine had claimed to have found also found the products all met national standards.
The council yesterday said its additional testing for 86 types of animal-use drug residues, plasticizers and painkillers in raw milk from dairy farms that supply the 13 CAS-labeled dairy product companies showed all of them meeting the national standards.
The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine added that it has completed inspections of animal drug usage records and equipment at 352 of the 560 dairy farms in Taiwan, and as of noon yesterday, no traces of illegal or abnormal drug usage had been found.
Later yesterday afternoon, the Dairy Farmer Association, the Dairy Association and the Taiwan Regional Association of Dairy Processors announced that they had jointly sent a legal attestation letter to Business Weekly asking it to apologize within seven days, or they will file a lawsuit or take other measures against the magazine
Dairy Farmer Association chairman Hung Chang-chin (洪長進) said the report had ruined the dairy farmers’ reputations, which took them many years to build.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS