The Legislative Yuan on Friday passed amendments to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) that introduce a maximum fine of NT$3 million (US$97,384) for companies that illegally use processing aids.
The amended act defines processing aids as substances used in the preparation or processing of food products or materials that are not among the listed ingredients or materials in a product’s packaging.
Aids are not to interact with the food as it is being processed and must be removed before packaging, the amendments say.
Trace amounts of processing aids that are unable to be removed and are harmless are allowed, they say.
Prior to using or substituting processing aids, companies must submit to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for review the names of the processing aids, their specifications, the manufacturing process, amounts being used, methods for removal and recycling, safe levels of residue and health risk assessments, the amendments say.
Proprietors who fail to comply with the rules face would face a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$3 million, they say.
The amendments stipulate that companies that commit severe offenses face having their operations suspended, or their company or factory registrations revoked, with a year stand-down period to apply before re-registration is permitted.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), who sponsored the amendments, said that the act previously lacked a clear distinction between food additives and processing aids, which was a loophole for unscrupulous food companies to profit at the cost of public health.
There are more than 700 processing aids used worldwide, but the nation only recognizes seven of them as safe for human, with the rest reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Chen said.
As long as food companies could invoke passages in the Codex Alimentarius or rules set by the EU or US Food and Drug Administration saying that a processing aid was allowed, the ministry would permit its use, but as eating habits vary greatly between Taiwanese and residents of other nations, the rules should not have been set in a one-size-fits-all manner, she said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai
RSS