Premier Jiang Yi-huah at the Cabinet meeting today expressed condemnation of two recently reported food-safety incidents and called for stringent investigations and punishments of the perpetrators.
In one case, illicit businessmen were found to have sold banned veterinary drugs to unsuspecting grouper cultivators in the Kaohsiung and Pingtung areas at an enormous profit. In the other, a printing company used toluene, a toxic chemical widely used to remove paint, to clean smirched lunchboxes for sale to restaurants and beverage chain stores.
"These black-hearted lawbreakers had no regard for citizens' health or the reputation of the nation's businesses," Jiang said.
Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo convened a cross-ministerial task force on the cases yesterday, the premier pointed out. The Council of Agriculture and Ministry of Justice already have concrete leads on the use of banned veterinary drugs by grouper cultivators.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has created its own supervisory task force, and in accordance with the newly revised Act Governing Food Sanitation, it has in cooperation with local governments ordered businesses connected to the toluene-tainted lunchboxes to suspend operations and sales and pay heavy fines. The MOHW is tracking down the offenders and will ensure all tainted products are disposed of.
The premier directed relevant agencies and local governments to expedite their responses in accordance with resolutions and guidelines made during past food safety meetings and "severely punish black-hearted illegal business operators so as to ensure citizens live in a healthy environment where they need not worry about food safety."