The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Nutrition and Healthy Diet Promotion Act (營養及健康飲食促進法), authorizing the establishment of a nutritional value database and penalties for incorrect content labeling.
The act still needs to be signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) before it is promulgated.
Taiwan needs to cut down on how much unhealthy food is sold and disseminate factually correct information on diet if the government’s duty to protect public health is to be fulfilled, lawmakers said in the bill’s statement of purpose.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Japan, South Korea, the US and other developed countries already have mechanisms to monitor the diet and nutrition of their citizens, teach good dietary habits and improve nutritional quality, they said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said that the bill codifies the survey and database-building efforts that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has already achieved.
It requires health officials to consult with the broader community of health experts in setting diet policy, Wu said.
In addition, the law specifies that government agencies must establish a budget for promoting better diets, she said.
It stipulates that deliberately spreading erroneous information about food or diet via a public medium, including television, radio and the Internet, is punishable by fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 (US$959 to US$9,594), which can be repeated if there is failure to comply.
The bill stipulates that local health officials are to bar erroneous information about food or diet from being distributed on public media, including television, radio and the Internet.
The bill requires the ministry to institute a regular national diet survey, maintain a nutritional content database and publish comprehensive diet guidelines for different demographic groups.
The guidelines should be revised every five years and take dietary restrictions into account, including those stemming from religion or culture, it says.
The government is to deal with problems the surveys identify through public education to target unhealthy trends or by encouraging manufacturers to utilize nutritional additives, the bill says.
Health officials must address malnutrition among residents of remote regions in Taiwan who lack access to specific types of foods by providing subsidies and improving food supplies, it says.
The ministry and other agencies should promote nutritional knowledge among doctors, nurses, care workers, public health professionals and food industry technicians, it says.
Incentives should be established to encourage charities and other non-governmental groups that receive public funding to provide nutrition training to staff, it says.
Government agencies should ensure nutrition training is provided for their social welfare, child welfare, long-term care, healthcare and military personnel, it says.
Separately, lawmakers passed amendments to the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例) to enhance penalties for ticket scalping.
The amendments stipulate that selling tickets for sporting events above the price set by organizers is punishable by a fine of 10 to 50 times the face value of the tickets.
Scalpers who use forged credentials or other illicit means to buy tickets in bulk would face up to three years in prison, commutable by a fine of no more than NT$3 million, the amendments say.
Reasonable surcharges for group purchases of seating at events to cover overhead or mailing costs are exempt, they say.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS