Taiwan Government sets-up new food safety office

The Taiwanese Government is launching a new food safety office, which will begin operations this week in response to the recent cooking oil scandal.

This office will be an upgrade of the current food safety promotion task force and has been set-up following a number of food standard breaches that were exposed in the recent months.

Executive Yuan said that preparatory work on the new department has been undertaken by three officials from the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The agency will be a driving force in food safety management across ministries and departments, and will also be joined by another five specialists on policy, technology and food affairs.

Minister-designate of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang has also instructed the relevant departments to inspect oil that is edible, in animal feed and industrial products.

The new office will primarily collect market information and analyse abnormal conditions, integrate food-related data and information from the government and private sectors, inspect food quality and handle disputes related to food safety.

The country is taking stricter measures after two different scandals that saw lard-based oils sold with extracted recycled kitchen oil, and industrial waste and oils meant for use in animal feed.