wfn.org | ECFA, risky US beef, lack of food self-sufficiency highlight Taiwan’s food crisis

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3023 Edition

>February 1~7, 2010

ECFA, risky US beef, lack of food self-sufficiency highlight  Taiwan’s food crisis

>Reported by staff reporters

>Written by Lydia Ma

As Taiwanese people shop for Chinese New Year items, food safety  looms on the back

of everybody’s mind, especially with so many recent examples  for tainted imported

products in various industries. For this reason, PCT Tainan  Presbytery printed and

advertisement recently encouraging consumers to use Taiwan-made  products and

oppose tainted products, many of which are imported from China.

According to Urban Rural Mission member Chou Ni-an, the three  agreements signed last

year when ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin met his Taiwanese counterpart  SEF Chairman

Jiang Pin-kung, opened the floodgates for more tainted products  from China. An ECFA

agreement, hailed as the Ma administration’s goal for 2010,  will spread the problem

even further unless strict safety regulations are in place.

According to Chou, previous administrations only permitted a few  Chinese agricultural

and food products to be imported to Taiwan. However, though about  800 China-made

products are currently banned in Taiwan, they still manage to  trickle into the country via

smuggling and falsifying the country of origin on product labels.

Once an ECFA agreement is signed and tariffs are dropped,  Taiwanese people can

expect more China-made products to flood Taiwanese markets. Chou  cautioned that

there are increasingly more Chinese medicines originating from  China in recent years

and folks planning to buy them to put into Chinese New Year dishes  should check

product labels carefully for signs of tampering as some may be  misleading when

disclosing the product’s manufacturing country. In the past,  some greedy import companies have tried to cover up low-quality products  from Vietnam or China by editing labels to make them read “Made in  Taiwan” to lure buyers.

>Former official warns against consuming beef

In related news, efforts to collect enough signatures to force a  referendum on banning US

bone-in beef and cow offal continue. This initiative just passed  its first phase and there

will be two more attempts to gather more signatures. If enough  signatures are gathered

to quick-start a referendum, US bone-in beef will most likely be  banned in Taiwan.

Uproar erupted across Taiwan last year after President Ma  unilaterally signed an

agreement with the US on lifting bans of imported US beef without  first consulting

legislature. Following two months of unrest, the Legislative Yuan  finally passed an

amendment concerning food safety, barring all cow offal and ground  beef for the next ten

years from any country with reported cases of mad cow disease.

Despite these measures to counter tainted beef, former EPA  minister Winston Dang

disclosed that when he was an inspector in the US, the FDA only  tested 5% of all meat

as it would be impossible to process more. By the same token,  Taiwan’s food inspection

agencies are unlikely to test more than 5%, so, Taiwanese people  must know that 95%

>of all imported beef are at risk.

Dang encouraged Taiwanese people to go vegetarian or imitate  Sweden, Denmark, and

other European countries in consuming national produces and in so  doing, boost their

own health, save on energy costs, and preserve the environment.

Lack of food self-sufficiency – a grave concern

If the melamine scandal and the risky-beef debate weren’t  enough to set off alarm bells,

Taiwan’s food self-sufficiency has decreased significantly in  recent years, according to a

study published by the Council of Agriculture. It also revealed  the current food self-

sufficiency rate to be at a mere 30%, in contrast to 70% or higher  in some European

>countries.

Food self-sufficiency is an issue that has long been ignored by  most Taiwanese because

of pressing environmental issues, land use restrictions, and  policies aimed at reviving

the economy. However, academics have been warning that food self-  sufficiency not only

protects domestic jobs but also safeguards public health.

According to Transworld Institute of Technology Environmental  Resource Management

Department’s Professor Chang Tzu-Chen, who is also a member  of Dou-liou

Presbyterian Church, global-warming has increased cases of drought  and decreased the

amount of harvest in many countries, prompting some countries like  Australia to cap the

>amount of food exports.

Sadly, Taiwanese have not only sacrificed farmland to build more  and more industrial

zones, treatment of industrial wastes are also decreasing the  amount of arable farmland,

which in turn forces Taiwan to increasingly rely on other  countries for food.

Chang encourages Taiwanese to buy Taiwan-made products because it  supports

Taiwanese farmers and decreases the amount of energy costs and  carbon emissions

involved in transporting imported products. More importantly,  consuming more Taiwan-

made products can decrease the chances of being exposed to tainted  imported

products. Chang hopes PCT churches can take the lead in this issue  by encouraging its

members to support and buy Taiwan-made products.

>********************

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local  languages.

You may translate and re-use our articles online only if you  acknowledge the source as

"Taiwan Church News" and list the names of the reporter and  writer.

Contact us before reprinting any of our articles for print  publications.

Direct comments and questions about this article to:  enews@pctpress.org

Visit our website for more news at: http://enews.pctpress.org/  (English)

>http://www.pctpress.org (Chinese)

>********************

> 
>