Taiwan must contemplate meaning of latest food scare

We’ve often scoffed and joked about food safety – or the lack of it – in China, the latest scare being rat meat passed off as lamb. And the biggest-ever food scandal on the mainland was probably triggered by melamine-tainted milk products that killed several babies in 2008 – a scare that Chinese people have not yet recovered from, and one that has caused Chinese people to flock to Hong Kong to buy milk products.

But in Taiwan, we seem to ignore, play down or forget the food safety problems of our own.

Taiwan does have strict laws governing food safety, but time and time again pork from sick pigs is found in processed meat products in the market. But these cases may not compare to the plasticiser scandal, which hit many of Taiwan’s major food companies back in 2011, when it was discovered that a major emulsifier supplier used the toxic chemical to make its food additives.

And now it is toxic starch. About 10,000 kilograms of toxic starch has been seized from a supplier.

When we see problems in other countries, perhaps it’s time to start asking ourselves: Are we any better? Do we really understand what is going on in other countries when we pass judgement?

This issue is much larger than food safety. We often hear local commentators admonish the Greeks, saying they deserve economic disaster because of their laziness. But are the Greek people really lazy? Or do we simply misunderstand their way of life? Or are we comparing theirs with our own unreasonably low-paid hard labour?

We’ve also heard similar remarks about Filipinos amid rising tensions between Taiwan and its Southeast Asian neighbour over the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coast guard.

And many other disparaging remarks have also been flung at the Philippine government. Some commentators say they cannot understand how Taiwan can come to be bullied by such a “small” nation – talking, of course, in the sense of economic power.

A radio commentator has tried to be reasonable by making a plea for civility. He said Taiwan is a civilised democracy and its people should not regress to using barbarous moves to counter the barbarous act of murder by the Philippine coast guard.

The act of shooting may have been an act of barbarity, but depicting the incident as civilisation (which is on the side of Taiwan) against barbarity (which is the side of the Philippines) is far-fetched.

Such remarks actually underscore our stupid sense of superiority. Taiwan employs thousands of Filipino immigrant workers, but that does not make us superior to them as human beings. And let us not forget how some of the employers in Taiwan have mistreated and abused their migrant workers.

We must remember that whatever we say may one day come back to haunt us. We frowned and laughed at the melamine scare in China, and then found ourselves deeply embarrassed by the plasticiser scandal.

President Ma Ying-jeou has stated that Taiwan would not be afraid to go to war with the Philippines if Manila does not satisfy us with an answer to the shooting. But are we really ready to go to war? And how long are we ready to maintain economic sanctions against the Philippines?

We must contemplate a possible endgame even at the early stages of the controversy.