The Executive Yuan Council today green-lighted a draft amendment toughening the Act Governing Food Sanitation and will send it to the Legislative Yuan for deliberation.
This revision would increase penalties for lawbreakers such as those in the recent cooking oil adulteration scandal, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said.
A three-tier food safety monitoring mechanism would be established, with inspections carried out first by companies themselves, then by accreditation institutions and finally by the government.
In addition, a food safety protection fund would be created to enhance relevant management and safeguard citizens' health, the premier pointed out. This fund shall be based on related domestic fund systems and the principles of the Crime Victim Protection Act.
Although the Act Governing Food Sanitation had been comprehensively reviewed in May 2011 and amended in response to plasticizer contamination incidents, recently a number of businesses have been found to have adulterated food products with inferior ingredients or replaced natural ingredients with synthetic ones to increase their profit margins. As such illegal conduct wreaks havoc on public health and consumers' rights, punishments must be stepped up to strengthen deterrence, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) indicated.
The proposed amendments are summarized as follows:
1. An enterprise shall certify the safety of all food product ingredients it uses or sells, including all raw materials, semi-products and end products. It shall either undertake accreditation testing itself or commission a certified accreditation laboratory to do so. Any enterprise which is not in compliance and fails to correct the violation within the time limit prescribed shall be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$1,012 and US$101,228). (Articles 7 and 48)
2. Accreditation organizations, legal entities or groups commissioned to certify manufacturers' food products or the accreditation procedures they conduct shall be subject to the management regulations prescribed by the central competent authority. Those failing to comply with such regulations may be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$3 million (US$1,012 and US$101,228). (Articles 8, 37 and 48-1)
3. The maximum fine for involvement in the production or sale of food products that are harmful to human health, adulterated or fraudulent shall be raised from NT$10.5 million (US$354,299) to NT$50 million (US$1,687,137). (Article 44)
4. The maximum fine for labeling, advertisements and promotions that are false, exaggerated or misleading shall be raised from NT$200,000 (US$6,749) to NT$4 million (US$134,971). (Article 45)
5. The maximum prison sentence for use of adulterated or fraudulent food additives or additives not authorized by the central government shall be raised from three years to five years. Attendant fines for violating legal entities and their representatives have also been increased. (Article 49)
6. Assets or property gained by violators through the illegal practices prescribed by this law must be either redistributed to the victims or confiscated. Where confiscation is not possible, other assets or property commensurate to the value of the illicit profits shall be confiscated instead. (Article 49-1)
7. The number of breaches to which this law's administrative penalties are applicable shall be defined by the central competent authority in other regulations. (Article 55-1)
8. A food safety protection fund shall be set up to maintain food safety and sanitation standards and safeguard consumers' rights. The competent authority shall establish regulations regarding subsidy recipients, application qualifications, review procedures, amount of compensation, revocation of compensation and other related matters. (Article 56-1)