Taiwan's food scandals  ―    Biggest-ever food scare began 2011 till present  !        
         
the sites rank world No.1 :  2020~25,   2017~19,   2016  2015,   2014,   2013  2010~12   Top  since 1998   
 


fights for rights

 
home  OP  Taiwan  TW  tour  restaurants  night market democracy  love  personality  hospitals  president  pres.  women   speech   univ.  internet-army  military  massage  prostitution  privacy   fraud   judiciary  police  prosecutors  judicial-persecution  corruption  foreign-labor  human rights  intl human rights  death penalty  diplomacy  transportation   happiness   housing   buffet   food   image  soft power  creativity  culture  wealth   drugs  persecutions  trans-justice  FB  US-cartoons  US-designs  Japan-comics  Chn-creativity  EXPO-Shanghai  Chn-cartoons-WWII  political-cartoons  cartoon-creativity  mental-control  music  movies  CovID-19      Is 'cannibalism' legal in a 'cannibal'-led country ?
 

 

Taiwan

         poisonous for 20-30 years

Biggest-ever food scare began 2011 till present  !  

   
 

  The Independent (UK), 2024-3-13: The cancer-causing Chinese food colouring that has sparked an inquest in Taiwan. Chili powder adulterated with ‘Sudan Red’ has flooded the markets of TaiwanThe dye has been classified as a Group 3 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The UK among other nations has banned the lipid-soluble "toxic substance" from being used in food products.  Sudan Red was purchased by the Army Logistics Command's Non-staple Food Supply Center.   msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-cancer-causing-chinese-food-colouring-that-has-sparked-an-inquest-in-taiwan/ar-BB1jOKwg   Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

  United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan), 2024-3-30: food safety issues have exploded one after another. From clenbuterol(瘦肉精Ractopamine), Sudan Red (蘇丹紅) to red yeast rice (紅麴), the "politics in command" government has been slow to deal with the problem.  They mostly were "shifting the blame" instead of "solving the problem", they were inactive after receiving and seeing poison-food reports, they lack of alertness, enthusiasm and specialty.   udn.com/news/story/7338/7865997?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

  You don't know if the milk is fresh or not !

United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan), 2024-5-16: Should the Taiwanese stores disclose whether a latte or dairy-containing food is using 'real' or 'fake' fresh milk?   Since the government does not pay attention to the issue, The dairy industries follow and play word games to deceive customers.   Some imported dairy products or milk are Ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurization, but still are labeled "fresh milk" or "fresh raw milk", some shops use brick milk (including 5 star hotel restaurants, very expensive chain coffee shops, and convenience shops, etc) or stuffs from milk powder, however, the customers do not have the rights to know.

United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan),  2024-7-12: Only 10% stores (high-end/high-price restaurants,  convenience shops, etc) discloses related info.; the government ignores the issue.

Food Renegade : UHT milk is more difficult to digest for many people than fresh raw milk or even vat-temp pasteurized milk. 

Quora: The problem with UHT milk is it alters the taste and Americans like their milk fresh and cold. UHT also degrades some of the nutrient value and the proteins degrade faster.   quora.com/Why-does-the-US-not-have-UHT-milk

Britannica:  Ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurization involves heating milk or cream to 138–150 °C (280–302 °F) for one or two seconds.

  United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan), 2024-3-14: Food safety and social safety in Taiwan are "jerry-building" with "land-mines" everywhere, because of (1) the gov. officials' incapacity and dereliction of duty - their policy is food company's "self-discipline"  (2) border management system issue  -  once discovering offences of illegal goods, they return them instead of destroying goods and penalty/punishment of the company (3) the gov. ignores small companies.  

 

  China Times (Taiwan), 2024-3-7: A series of food safety controversies have clearly shown that the government responsible for food safety control are lazy and passive.  They not only allow problematic foods to flow into the market, but also refuse to admit their mistakes after making news. Now, even green chili powder has been found to contain Sudan III (蘇丹紅) .  The public's confidence on Taiwan food safety has collapsed. chinatimes.com/opinion/20240307004244-262101?chdtv

 

  United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan), 2024-3-8: Sudan III food safety risk expanded to the entire Taiwan, affecting food industry chain.  This systematic event is the most serious food safety issue in recent years.  Taiwan's government - The food and Drug Admin. took a negative attitude, resulting in illegal businessmen took advantage of the loophole to import a huge amount of Sudan III  ... udn.com/news/story/121823/7816857?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub121823_pulldownmenu_v2

 

  United Daily 聯合報 (Taiwan), 2024-3-10:  Taiwan's government found out Sudan III already penetrated into food chain in 2018, and announced this to the public, but now they change the phrase to classify Sudan III as Class 3 carcinogens The premier stated Sudan III event has turned into individual cases earlier, but now he can not help but to admit this is a systematic issue. udn.com/news/story/7338/7820535?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

 

  United Daily (Taiwan), 2024-2-7: The government remains inactive dampening public confidence in food safety   udn.com/news/story/7338/7759932?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2

  UDN 經濟日報 (Taiwan), 2024-2-28: Relevant food safety measures are obviously not in place. This Cimbuterol incident has once again exposed the lack of supporting domestic food safety measures and implementation capacity

 

  United Daily (Taiwan), 2024-2-24: Taiwanese government premier 陳建仁 dances around the question concerning Taiwan Sugar Corp.'s Ractopamine (瘦肉精) pork and Cimbuterol meat ; this "truthlessness" phenomenon has gradually become a major feature of the government - DPP lawmakers harbor government's mistakes and dirts.  udn.com/news/story/7338/7788866?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate   brief

 

  Global Times,  2023-6- globaltimes.cn/page/202306/1291967.shtml  the first agreement under the so-called “Initiative on 21st Century Trade” In terms of agricultural and livestock products, the so-called agreement does not mention any inspection and quarantine of agricultural and livestock products or food safety issues.   Instead, it facilitates entry process, which means more US farm and livestock products and processed foods will be dumped on the island, which will further harm food safety, the Labor Party said in the statement. “Why does the DPP authorities dare not make this clear to the entire island?”

 

DailyMail (UK), 2023-4-28:  Young Australian student on his dream overseas exchange program is fighting for his life in Taiwan after eating street food laced with rat poison.  He had been misdiagnosed in Taiwan with an immune disorder.  Alex is at the Taipei Medical University Hospital ...The medical services in Taiwan don't currently have the right treatments or drugs to stabilise his condition, Alex's condition has grown worse and he needs to be flown to the Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney via a specialised medical flight retrieval service dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12023841/Toowoomba-student-exchange-Taiwan-fighting-life-eating-food-laced-rat-poison.html

 

  United Daily (Taiwan), 2023-10-6:  When it comes to imported Ractopamine pig (pork), the government has been always giving vague phrases or just denied.  Now the mysterious pork were eventually found  - 150 thousands kg US pork were labeled as British or Canadian pork and were distributed to local restaurants and stalls, almost all of which were eaten by Taiwanese people already ... some pork were even processed and mixed with mutton for sale, the public trust on food safety policy is collapsed!  udn.com/news/story/7338/7487885?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate     chinatimes.com/opinion/20231005004589-262101?chdtv

 

  United Daily (Taiwan), 2023-9-24:  "Food Safety issues remain" (食安未解,民主停更) - Chicken eggs issue forces minister of Agriculture (農業部長陳吉仲) and president of Naif.org both to step down ...the most horrible thing is that the whistleblower has been threaten to shut his mouth up by harming his family members...  udn.com/news/story/7338/7460993?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub7338_pulldownmenu_v2

 

  United Daily (Taiwan), 2023-9-29:  We don't see the judiciary cracking down black-heart foods,  the prosecution and the investigation both are reduced to check political climate before taking legal action. (不見雷厲風行查黑心食品  檢調淪落到看政治風向辦案) vip.udn.com/vip/story/122367/7471373?from=udn-category

 

  Global Times,  2022-9-17 (globaltimes.cn/page/202209/1275446.shtml):

 DPP authority is sacrificing the people's interests for their political ends.   the Taiwan authorities detected Caesium-137 in the batch of konjaku jelly powder since the island in February relaxed a decade-long ban on imports of "nuclear food"  from Japan.   The Taiwan authorities also said that they were negotiating with related merchants to return the batch of food or destroy it.    This indicates two problems. First, the place of origin of some imported Japanese food may be faked to avoid being detected, which the authorities should keep alert about. Second, the authorities' frequency of detecting Japanese food is not high enough.

 

  New York Times, 2022-8-18: Taiwanese cuisine — layered, distinct, multiethnic ...has been shaped by many cultural forces, including the island's Indigenous tribes,  long-established groups of Fujianese and Hakka people; Japanese ;  Chinese immigrants in 1949+...   nytimes.com/2022/08/16/dining/taiwanese-cuisine.html

 

  Global Times,  2022-2-13 (globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252141.shtml): DPP sacrifices Taiwan people’s interests by lifting ban on Japan‘nuclear food’ for political gain/  The Japan Times said that island's leader, Tsai Ing-wen, prioritized Japan-related food issues in trying to win Japan's support for Taiwan's entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).  Ironically, local media cited expert analyses as saying that much of the leaked radioactive material is still radioactive. 


72% oppose lifting the ban

67.7% believe DPP's radiation inspection standards are not effective
in regulating the "nuclear food"    

Source: Taiwan Yahoo news poll conducted between February 8 and February 11
 


the DPP actively paved the way for imports of the controversial pork to appease the US. ...Head of Taiwan's health authority:... as importing the pork could enhance Taiwan's "international status"...

 

 

 

 

pic.: Taiwanese officials hide Nicarbazin illegal drug residue from consumers, indulged business to retrieve problematic eggs, and then resell them as promotion goods

    


 

pic. above: This website-group -
No.1
ranking on google by keyword
                    "comment Taiwan food",  test at 9-5-2017.

 

 

pic. above: Feed-animal oil for humans ?
Public anger, Taiwan's Judiciary died already / the China Times, 11-28-2015.
The darkest day in Taiwan food safety history / the Liberty Times, 11-28-2015.

 

●  The China Times (12-14-2015):The legislative Yuan trickily made some law to cover big financial groups, food scare already turned into a terrorist in Taiwan...  Former supreme-court grand justice Chen (城仲模) expressed most Taiwanese don't trust the judicial system.
The Liberty Times (11-30-2015): Food safety still is a decisive factor to win presidential election (headline).  Taipei mayor Ko comments food-safety is a decisive factor for KMT to loss election in 2014, most likely in 2016 too. 

 

 

 

 


pic. left: 90.12% Taiwanese don't agree the trial decision: Tinghsin int'l group<頂新> selling processed feed-animal oil was acquitted of the charge / head-page of Apple Daily, 11-28-2015

 

★  The Liberty Times - Weekender  9.18.2015

time news events details
April 2012, Oct. 2013 plumping agent with Aluminum(膨鬆劑加鋁) By using plumping agent with Aluminum, donuts and Chinese steamed bun, etc will plump quicker and have better appearance for selling, but eating excessively may causes brain disease.  (烘焙業在製作饅頭與甜甜圈過程中,添加含鋁膨鬆劑使之迅速膨脹且賣相佳但過量可能導致腦部疾病)
Jan. 2013 fake rice vermicelli(假米粉) Taiwanese business including some in Sin-Chu, the major city producing rice vermicelli, replaced or mixed pure  rice vermicelli by corn starch to decrease the cost and selling price. (業者為壓低成本與售價以玉米澱粉混充純米米粉此包括"米粉重鎮"新竹)
May 2013 toxic starch(毒澱粉) Industrial adhesives Maleic Acid was mixed into regular starch by businesses to make chewy starch foods or products. (為製作口感Q彈的澱粉產品業者在一般澱粉中混入工業用黏著劑順丁烯二酸酐)
Aug. 2013 Top Pot Bakery used essence(胖達人香精) Top Pot has been flaunting itself a non-addictive bakery, but was reported using a number of addictives - including flavouring essence. (胖達人強調無添加的香氣麵包卻被踢爆使用多種食品添加物)
Feb. 2014 Industrial bleaching agent to whiten beam sprouts (工業漂白劑漂白豆芽) Using Industrial bleaching agent to whiten beam sprouts for better appearance and better selling. (台南查獲業者使用工業漂白劑、連二亞硫酸鈉漂白豆芽使賣相更佳)
March 2015 Illegally added Sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate dihydrate (CH3NaO3S) into Yun cake (潤餅違法添吊白塊) Long time using Illegal addictive Sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate dihydrate (CH3NaO3S) into Yun cake (lumpia) for chewy taste. (有業者長期使用被禁用的「吊白塊」使潤餅吃時起來有彈性且不易破)
April 2015 Gypsum of pharmaceutic were added to Black-puddings(藥用石膏混入米血) For better taste and solidification, some Black-puddings using Gypsum of pharmaceutic as addictives. (屏東米血工廠為凝固產品且提升口感,使用跌打損傷藥石膏為添加物)

●  others like coloring agent were used as make-up or feeds on Salmon, soaking in phosphatic water to enlarger oysters, formaldehyde (HCHO) to extend oysters expiration, borax(硼砂) to whiten (or avoid dark / black color) oysters ...in some evil-hearted businesses, details pls. ref. to the Liberty Times.