Think about where your food comes from
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A Taiwanese media expert earlier this year commented on Taiwan's food safety and environmental protection issues by saying "The sky was once blue, the beach was once ours ... fruits were once hormone-free, pesticides were once not for human consumption."
The sentence could have gone on. In just half a century, the relationship between food and humans has seen a huge change. Technology and industrialisation reshaped agriculture and livestock farming, and directly and indirectly influenced the food that we eat.
People like fabulous dishes, but they seldom ask where the food came from. The government has apparently rarely asked the same question.
Duh Tyzz-jiun, vice minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA), claimed the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) system has an “quite strict” standard in terms of issuing a GMP stamp for edible goods. The MEA must review a written application, inspect production and sample the food for testing. Duh backed up his point by saying there aren’t many products on the market that have obtained the stamp.
He may be right about that fact. However, 17 products produced by Tatung Changchi Foodstuff have the GMP stamp. And yet the firm was recently exposed for using additives in its so-called pure oil products.
And then there is Flavor Full Foods, which claimed its cottonseed-added products are all for export. A few days later they admitted that those goods are available in Taiwan.
Duh said the key controversy over Changchi is that the firm had forged its manufacturing statement and mislabelled its products.
Of the 7,619 tonnes of coarse cottonseed oil imported into Taiwan between October 2012 and 2013, 40 per cent went to Tatung Changchi while the remaining 60 per cent went to Flavor Full Foods.
With so much cottonseed oil bought by the two cooking oil manufacturers, didn’t that seem fishy to the government? In the past, cottonseed oil was used as lubricant on sewing machines. Wouldn’t it seem strange for a food producer to import so much of it?
Premier Jiang Yi-huah said food products have to be tested by the food manufacturer itself and the GMP system, but that in the future the government will require food to be further tested by domestic academia and food safety organisations before going onto shelves.
A third-party examination platform will be established by the beginning of next year, Jiang added, noting that at the same time, the government will review the GMP system and enhance source management.
The MEA said it will now institute checks on ingredients listed on oil manufacturers’ import declarations.
Yes, the government should take action to protect people from unscrupulous food manufacturers and tainted food, but is it enough?
Apart from relying solely on the government and waiting for it to protect us, we should start asking questions. When looking at cheap or discounted food from retailers, it is wise to think where these foods come from, and how they were produced or imported.
