Noodle manufacturers yesterday accused the government of failing to protect businesses by publicizing their names before further investigation had been completed and not asking for inspection details from the Singaporean government, which earlier this week said that 11 Taiwanese-made food products contained maleic anhydride-modified industrial starch.
Greater Tainan’s regional specialty, known as Guanmiao noodles (關廟麵), has been listed among food products found by Singaporean authorities to be tainted with the industrial starch.
The Greater Tainan Government’s health department had randomly inspected six items, of which four were products and two ingredients, and yesterday affirmed that it found no illegal additives.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Twenty of Tainan’s Guanmiao noodle manufacturers, including Shan-chih, whose Guanmiao noodles exported to Singapore were said to be among the 11 products found to contain maleic acid and were asked to be removed from shelves, held a press conference yesterday, accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Greater Tainan City Councilor Wang Ding-yu (王定宇).
They accused the government of passivity and inaction in clearing the name of Guanmiao noodles.
“The noodles are all made according to the traditional process of mixing flour, water and salt, and drying the product in the sun,” one manufacturer said, emphasizing that starch is not used at all and that the noodles’ chewiness does not result from starch.
“Not only did the government fail to confirm with the Singaporean authority its testing results and methods, domestically it has also failed to clarify the issue and vindicate the Guanmiao noodle industry, which involves thousands of people’s livelihoods,” said Wang, who called for the government’s endorsement of the product.
Food and Drug Administration official Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) reaffirmed that the latest test results showed no evidence of industrial starch in the noodles and said the relevant authority is now trying to straighten out the matter by asking Singapore for further information.
Meanwhile, the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee has proposed to raise the penalty against those contravening the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) from between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 (US$996 and US$4,979) to a maximum of NT$15 million.
Those who break the law by adding prohibited chemicals to food would be sentenced to two to seven years in jail, while causing corporal damage with banned chemicals would lead to seven to 10-year sentences, said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉), the committee convener.
He added that the heaviest punishment would be a life sentence if the offense results in deaths.
Separately yesterday, Chen Tien-chueh (陳天爵), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of International Information Service, said the ministry would schedule a meeting to brief the diplomatic corps to help them understand the situation.
Amid concerns that the food safety scandal has tarnished the nation’s reputation as a reliable and safe exporter of food, the ministry has come under criticism for failing to clear the name of Taiwanese food in the international market.
The Department of International Information Service was the target of criticism because it is in charge of handling international public relations.
Facing a string of media queries at a press briefing yesterday about how the food safety scandal has evolved in other countries, Chen could not answer any of them. He said Singapore was the only country that has raised concerns.
While Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has followed Singapore’s example and suspended imports of 11 Taiwanese starch-based products on Wednesday, Chen made no mention of it at the news briefing and could only confirm the news yesterday evening.
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