A certification should be developed for vegetarian foods to ensure consumers can trust labeling on packages, a legislator said yesterday at a meeting of the legislature's Sanitation, Environment, Social Welfare and Labor Committee.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Hong-chi (
The government should be more vigilant in ensuring that companies are not mislabeling foods and medicines that contain animal products and vegetables that are not allowed in certain religious diets.
While Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mao (侯勝茂) responded positively to Lin's proposal, he said it there would have to be consultations with the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to assess the feasibility of such a certification program before moving head with the idea.
Lin, a vegetarian, told the committee that the rights of the nation's approximately 2 million vegetarians were not adequately protected.
"There are a lot of black-hearted vegetarian foods out there," Lin said. "Not enough attention is paid to the issue, meaning that vegetarians' rights are not being protected."
The Chinese term `black-hearted' refers to products that are subpar but appear acceptable.
As in the West, vegetarians in Taiwan do not all follow the same dietary rules.
There are many kinds of vegetarians, Lin said. Some eat milk and eggs, while others are strict vegans. Many Buddhist vegetarians also do not eat garlic, spring onions or onions.
But many products claim only to be "vegetarian," without clearly indicating which standard they follow or what kind of seasoning and vegetables they contain. This makes it difficult, for example, for vegetarians who do not eat certain vegetables to confirm that a product is safe for them to eat.
"Many medicines and capsules also contain gelatin made from animal sources," Lin said. "Those should also be labeled honestly."
Lin suggested that a certification scheme similar to the system in place for organic foods should be implemented.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to