The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a draft act to promote nutrition, which would punish false advertisements about food products, with a repeatable fine of up to NT$300,000 (US$9,300).
Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) made the announcement at a news conference following the weekly Executive Yuan meeting.
He cited Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) as saying during the meeting that the draft act is part of an effort to tackle unhealthy diets, which have significantly impacted public health and contributes to the spread of noncommunicable diseases.
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Taipei Times
The draft act would facilitate the creation of a supportive environment for healthy eating and public education on nutrition, as well as improve public health, he paraphrased Chen as saying.
The premier expressed hope that legislators would pass the proposal quickly, Chen added.
According to the draft, making false claims about health in food advertising or spreading them by any other methods would be an offense punishable by a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$300,000 following a warning.
The fine could be imposed consecutively, it added.
The draft act would also authorize the establishment of a food nutritional value database, new diet guidelines for the consideration of public social welfare programs and incentives for utilizing healthy additives.
The central government should propose measures to improve the environment for good nutrition in universities, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, nursing homes and correctional facilities, it said.
This means that the performance review metrics of the relevant government facilities and agencies would include nutrition and diet education programs, while the training of relevant personnel would include these subjects, according to the draft act.
Public institutions that care for children and young people would be required to serve healthy meals, while kindergartens, elementary schools, and junior and senior-high schools would be required to serve or sell healthy snacks and meals, it said.
Healthy meals must be served to children and young people under the care of a public institution, while healthy snacks and beverages should be served in kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools and their commissaries, the draft act says.
The proposed nutrition and diet law was drafted to fulfill Taiwan’s pledge to comply with the Rome Declaration on Nutrition and the Framework for Action made by the UN in 2016, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a news release.
The draft act’s language drew from similar legislation for eliminating malnutrition in Japan, South Korea and the US, among other nations, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS