The Ministry of Agriculture is planning to implement new registration, traceability and labeling measures for oysters by the end of next year, Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said yesterday.
Vietnamese and Chinese oysters are being smuggled into Taiwan and sold as Taiwanese oysters, Chen said at a news conference for a sustainable seafood event.
Chinese oysters are first smuggled into the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, and then transferred to Taiwan proper, Chen said.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
Although Taiwan does not permit the import of Chinese oysters, some businesses continue to smuggle them in, making huge profits while ignoring food safety risks, he said.
The Chinese oysters are not inspected and could contain large amounts of heavy metals due to the heavy pollution in Chinese coastal waters, he added.
The ministry is cooperating with local governments to implement oyster farming registration on the islands to address the issue, Chen said, adding that they would also promote the reporting of oyster seed stocking volumes to ensure that oysters are locally produced.
The ministry has decided to implement an origin labeling and traceability system for oysters produced in Taiwan by the end of next year, shortened from an original three-year timeline, he said.
Plans would be put in place to include oysters in the same product regulations governing Taiwanese tea, he added.
The Fisheries Research Institute’s technology can already distinguish between Vietnamese oysters and Taiwanese oysters, but as Taiwanese and Chinese oysters are produced in a similar environment, the identification technology needs to be improved, Chen said.
The ministry also plans to implement farming registration procedures for other key agricultural products, and farmers seeking disaster relief assistance or government subsidies would have to comply with registration requirements, Chen said.
Starting next year, the ministry plans to systematically enforce policies to ensure a balance between production and marketing of agricultural products, he said.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS