The Control Yuan, which oversees government procedure and practices, told government agencies and departments yesterday to refrain from holding or supporting eating contests or any other competitions that could damage the health of contestants.
“It is against social justice and fairness” when participants of eating contests seek national health insurance-covered medical treatment for illnesses caused by excessive or hasty food consumption during such competitions, Control Yuan members Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) and Yin Jeo-chen (尹祚芊) said in a report on their investigation into eating contests.
In recent years, the contests have become popular in Taiwan, Cheng and Yin said, involving ingredients and foods ranging from chilies, beer and hotdogs to beef noodles.
However, it is common to see participants in eating contests being rushed to hospital because of illness caused by eating too much or too fast, they said.
These people’s medical bills, derived from their participation in contests that challenge the boundaries of their physical endurance, however, are mostly paid for by the entire population of the country because of the national health insurance system, they said.
Although the Bureau of National Health Insurance asks the organizers of eating contests or similar competitions to pay for the medical bills of their contestants if it can prove the competition is the cause of the illness, the Department of Health should also take the initiative in monitoring such competitions, Cheng said.
In their report, Cheng and Yin also said the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the top authority in charge of the management of commercial activities, should establish regulations to restrict extreme activities and impose rules to regulate how such activities should be organized.
“Eating contests are not banned by the law, but they can be harmful to the health,” Cheng said.
Government agencies and departments in particular should not be organizing such activities, he said, citing examples including a braised pork rice-eating contest held by the Taipei City Government in 2007 to promote traditional Taiwanese cuisine.
Cheng and Yin also urged the National Communications Commission, the top authority responsible for regulating telecommunications and broadcasting services, to push media outlets to add words of warning to their video coverage of eating contests or similar competitions.
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