The Corrections Agency’s online store selling food and snacks prepared by prisoners has earned NT$14 million (US$447,213) between its launch in February last year and last month, the agency said on Wednesday.
The public can buy festive food items made for the Lunar New Year on the agency’s e-store, whose profits are to go to a fund for victims of crime, agency director-general Chou Hui-huang (周輝煌) said.
Many Taiwanese prisons teach inmates how to cook food or bake confections as part of their rehabilitation and job training program, Chou said, adding that prisons hire respected professionals as instructors.
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
Most of the products made in prison bakeries are local confections representative of the area’s cuisine and culture, he said.
Proceeds from prison bakeries go to the families of crime victims and the prisoners’ commissary accounts, which reduces the economic burden on the family of the incarcerated, Chou said.
The inmate-produced foods and snacks are good quality, as shown by sales figures and endorsements on foodie blogs, he said, adding that the e-store sold 5,623 orders as of last month.
Food products branded by correctional facilities are made with strict adherence to food safety standards and laws, including clear content labels, stringent hygiene standards and consumer insurance, he said.
Kaohsiung Second Prison’s sausages, made from 80 percent lean pork shoulder marinated in kaoliang liquor with spices and cooked with cayenne pineapples grown locally in the county’s Dashu District (大樹), are a favorite for their flavor and texture, they said.
Tainan Second Prison’s dried fruit marshmallow biscuits feature 13 ingredients, including the municipality’s famous dried fruits, nuts and vegetables, mixed with melted marshmallows, they said.
Pineapple cakes from Changhua Prison make use of fruits with a light sweetness, salted egg yolk and unsalted butter with no preservatives, agency officials said.
Mingde Minimum Security Prison’s turkey meat floss is made from free-range fowl, slowly cooked in dry heat with sea salt, sugar and soy sauce before adding nori seaweed and sesame seeds, they said, adding that the resulting mix has 40 percent less fat than its pork counterpart.
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