A nonpartisan group of legislators and dietitians yesterday called for the swift passage of a comprehensive school lunch bill, as only 538 nutritionists serve the nation’s 1.8 million schoolchildren, the equivalent of one for every 3,345 students.
Ahead of Children’s Day on Sunday, legislators called a news conference to promote the passage of a “school diet and nutrition promotion act,” which would mandate the hiring of more school nutritionists and clarify their roles.
Local governments are left to create their own school lunch policy, Taiwan Dietitian Association president Chin Huei-min (金惠民) said.
Photo: Lin Yi-chang, Taipei Times
The nation should emulate Japan and South Korea, which passed national legislation in 1954 and 1981 respectively, she added.
Different localities passing their own food safety regulations creates inefficiencies and imbalances between regions, she said.
Without a reasonable pricing mechanism, schools with insufficient funding only buy the cheapest products or are unable to find vendors, Chin said.
Lack of a law also threatens children’s health, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, as increasing numbers of young people are developing metabolic syndrome, she said.
Without enough experts, the nutritionist-student ratio would continue to decline, Chin added.
The School Health Act (學校衛生法) includes a brief article requiring at least one staff dietitian for schools with 40 or more classes, association director Huang Tsui-hua (黃翠華) said.
However, a dedicated law could do more to specify their function and reduce the ratio to one dietitian for every 20 classes, as well as require a full-time administrator to handle lunches, she said.
Only 17 percent of schools in the nation have 40 or more classes, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.
Every day, 1.8 million school lunches are distributed nationwide, but there are only 538 school nutritionists, DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said, citing K-12 Education Administration data.
The nation cannot always rely on remedial treatment after children get older, but must ensure balanced nutrition from an early age through systematic regulation, he added.
School nutritionists not only need to create menus, but must also master their implementation, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) said, urging a ratio of one dietitian per 20, or even fewer, classes.
As for meal costs, Chang Liao asked what an appropriate price for ingredients would be and called for the creation of a set pricing mechanism.
About 27 percent of the nation’s schoolchildren are obese due to unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安) said, calling on lawmakers from all parties to support efforts to address the issue.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody