The News Lens international edition is sponsored by Tutor A B C

On October 15, DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen announced five policies regarding food safety which include establishing new poison management facilities, reconstructing production history from the very beginning, amending the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and urging self-management.

iSET reports, Tsai says that she will deal with the problem of food safety from its roots. The reconstruction of production history is like giving agricultural products an identity card. The quality of agricultural products also have to meet international standards so that the government’s certification can be a guarantee of quality. This will not only restore confidence in local consumers, but also increase international competitiveness. It will be the best kind of marketing if consumers overseas can immediately identify Taiwan agricultural products to be safe when seeing them in grocery stores abroad.

Tsai points out in her press release that food safety is one of the main issues the DPP will deal with after it returns to power. The five methods she raises are:

1. Establishing new source control mechanisms
2. Reconstruction of production management
3. Ten times of market inspection
4. Aggravated responsibility of producers
5. Citizens monitoring food safety

Storm Media reports, regarding the fact that food manufacturers might be in fear of their survival due to the new polices, Tsai says that dealing with food safety is promoting the food industry to a higher level. The use of additives in food processing is already part of history and people now emphasize on quality and health. Managing food safety well can enhance the quality and competitiveness of the industry significantly. Tsai also stresses the importance of food education and advocates that the government should provide more information and knowledge for the people to make the right decisions.

What’s noteworthy is CEO of IMei Foods Co., Luis Ko, participated in the press conference but said he wasn’t there to support Tsai, but to give his opinions regarding improvements that should made in food safety policies.

Ko emphasized three times that he didn’t believe the policies were perfect and there was a lot of room for improvement. Ko says that IMei has been self-managing for more than thirty years and have done many examinations. But he is against these tests because he believes that if the food human beings consume need to go through examination before eating, this is the greatest sorrow for humans and probably a sign of humans perishing.

Translated by Olivia Yang

Sources: