Taipei City Government

On June 6, Mayor Ko Wen-je took part in a dialogue with I-MEI Foods Co. Chairman Kao Chih-ming on food safety issues during the entrepreneur’s book launch event.
The mayor set out three goals to sum up the conversation: 1.) the establishment of a unified food items glossary is needed; 2.) businesses should be held responsible for the safety of their products; and 3.) the adoption of international food safety standards.
Kao pointed out that various kinds of beans have been referred to collectively as “soybean” when exported. Discrepancies exist for the terms of foodstuff used by Finance Ministry, Council of Agriculture, and Ministry of Health and Welfare, creating confusion and hampering management.
Ko added that the City’s food tracer platform has seen the same item registered with different names, making it harder to classify and standardize for statistic collection. He believes that unification of food names is critical in establishing a sound tracer platform.
Citing administrative obstacles in the tracking of food source as Taipei sits at the consumer end of the supply chain, Ko urged businesses to conduct strict measures to ensure quality of their own products. Industry leaders, in particular, should strive to uphold their corporate reputation through establishing laboratories and conducting thorough examination of products.
The mayor also stressed that the government should assist in food inspection work for street vendors, as well as small-scale food companies which lack the capabilities of carrying out product examination on their own.