After hearing the Ministry of Health and Welfare's (MOHW) report on major food safety incidents and reform strategies at today's Cabinet meeting, Premier Jiang Yi-huah gave detailed instructions on what agencies must do to further protect public health.
After plasticizers were found in certain sports drinks and other beverages in 2011, the MOHW conducted a thorough examination of the Act Governing Food Sanitation and amended it to strengthen management and punishment, indicated the premier.
"Nevertheless, there are still some manufacturers conspiring for profits while disregarding their countrymen and women's health," he remarked. "The executive team should stand up to fight this unlawfulness and safeguard the public's well-being."
"Unsafe food is harmful to citizens' health and deals a heavy blow to the nation's economy, its international trade as well as its image," he emphasized.
Since the recent revelation of violations by Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co., the Vice Premier has twice convened a cross-ministerial task force on food safety and urged relevant agencies to step up investigations, Jiang noted. He then enjoined agencies to follow the resolutions reached by the task force and to strengthen the following measures:
1. Officials must doggedly trace the sources of adulterated food oil products and their distribution channels, remove them from shelves, punish the persons responsible severely in accordance with the Act Governing Food Sanitation, inspect and freeze the assets of the companies and supervisors found to have violated the law, confiscate illicit gains and hold all violators responsible for their behavior.
2. To set the public at ease, any relevant information, including lists of both unsafe oil products and those that have passed inspection, should be published and distributed as soon as possible, and service hotlines to answer people's questions should be established.
3. Competent authorities should comprehensively review and improve food accreditation systems, including the Certified Agricultural Standards and Good Manufacturing Practice, in response to the public's growing concerns. Efforts must be made to put an end to fraudulent certification and inform the public of them. In addition, a three-tier monitoring system should be established, with a third-party inspection mandated in addition to the existing requirements of examinations by manufacturers and the government.
4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Finance must investigate the shipping routes of exported tainted cooking oil products and handle related issues about which foreign trading partners express concern in order to mitigate the impact of this event on foreign trade and the economy.
5. A food safety inspection and crackdown taskforce, spearheaded by ministers without portfolio, shall be established within one week to consolidate the efforts of central and local governments, prosecutors and law enforcement. Increased investigation and inspection will begin with staple food items and then expand to include all comestibles.
6. As guaranteeing food safety requires more than just the public sector's efforts, the MOHW is tasked with expanding collaboration with private organizations on this duty.
The premier expressed his gratitude to the Changhua County Public Health Bureau section chief who discovered that Chang Chi oil was tainted and the prosecutorial office for its effectiveness in investigating the case.
"Food safety is protected by courageous officials on the front line, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them," Jiang said. He also praised the work of MOHW Minister Chiu Wen-ta.
"Food safety is not the responsibility of the MOHW alone," the premier emphasized. "It is a complex task which requires the cooperation of various ministries. Cabinet agencies must unite and undertake the necessary checks together."