Primary agricultural processed foods to be brought under regulation; dedicated law for small-scale processing aims to be completed this year
"Agricultural processing really needs to keep up with consumer trends; only agricultural processing can extend the shelf life of fresh fruit." Council of Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien, in a report on the results of an overseas visit today (the 8th), noted that during his visit to the "2018 Tokyo International Food Exhibition" he once again felt the importance of agricultural processing. "Through agricultural processing, the lifespan of agricultural products can be extended and value added." Lin stressed that developing the cold chain, post-harvest handling and regional processing centers are the biggest priorities for agricultural development this year.
But aside from the regional processing centers focused on post-harvest handling being an annual development priority, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung also revealed in a recent interview that the Council is currently working hard to draft and promote a dedicated law for small-scale agricultural processing, and plans to hold further consultations with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, in an attempt to bring primary agricultural processed foods under the Council of Agriculture's management, so as to break through the current bottleneck in the operation of self-produced agricultural product processing rooms.
Primary agricultural processing to be placed under the Council of Agriculture, with four priority items to lead the way
At present, the Council of Agriculture tends to list four agricultural processing items - "drying", "grinding", "roasting" and "milling" - as priority items for promotion; Chen Chi-chung stated that, considering that the operations for the above four processed categories are relatively simple and food safety risks are easier to control, they have been listed as priority items; as for whether other processed categories will be added one after another in the future? Chen said that this will be reviewed on a rolling basis depending on how the promotion proceeds.
But a month ago, in a cross-ministerial discussion jointly convened by the Executive Yuan's Office of Food Safety in conjunction with the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Hsu Fu, director of the Office of Food Safety, also mentioned that the target subjects and venues to which the dedicated law applies must be clearly defined; the agricultural land for agricultural product processing plants must be included in the discussion, and the future dedicated law's hygiene and safety facility conditions for small-scale agricultural product processing sites must also be clearly stated.
In this regard, how does the Council of Agriculture currently tend to define the scope of "small-scale agricultural processing"? Chen Chi-chung stated that the scale of area remains to be studied; and the Council of Agriculture is also considering setting out operating standards "directly related" to food safety for farmer-processors to follow.
Red date drying (provided by Chen Shu-hui, a small-scale agricultural processor)In the future, the Ministry of Agriculture's "Department of Safe Agricultural Product Processing" is to shoulder the responsibility of management
The Council of Agriculture intends to take on sole responsibility for managing everything from agricultural production to agricultural processed foods; how then will the actual management mechanism be established? Chen Chi-chung stated that at this stage he can only reveal that in the future the "Department of Safe Agricultural Product Processing" under the Ministry of Agriculture will play a key role, issuing license numbers and barcodes through that department; operating in this way, small-scale agricultural processed products will in the future be able to be sold through channels, and even if problems arise they can be traced and recalled.
Chen Chi-chung stressed that setting its own operating standards for small-scale agricultural processing is not a relaxation of food safety standards, but rather bringing it under management.
The output value of primary agricultural processing is to be included in the calculation of agricultural output value, boosting overall agricultural output value
Echoing what Lin Tsung-hsien said today, "only agricultural processing can extend the shelf life of fresh fruit", Chen Chi-chung also stated that the annual agricultural output value is about 500 billion yuan, but this is merely the output value of primary agricultural production alone; thinking from the farmer's side, the significance of agricultural processing is nothing more than adding value and extending the preservation period of agricultural products.
"But for agricultural products that have undergone primary processing, whose output value do they count as?" Chen Chi-chung pointed out that should they be included in the output value of primary agricultural production, or calculated as the output value of secondary food processing? Chen believes that if the output value of primary agricultural processing can be included in the calculation of agricultural output value, it will be able to raise the overall agricultural output value figure; therefore the Council of Agriculture is striving to complete the dedicated law for small-scale agricultural processing this year.