The Road of the Civil School Lunch Movement (April 2015 - August 2018)
Preface: Following the two articles "A Ten-Year Road of the Campus Lunch Movement (Part 1)" and "A Ten-Year Road of the Campus Lunch Movement (Part 2)" published in March 2015, the author has written this third record based primarily on personal experience and observation from nearly three years of participating in the civil school lunch movement, supplemented by relevant literature and materials. It presents one facet of the school lunch movement in Taiwan, China, in the hope of sparking further discussion, encouraging more experts to share the full picture of the movement, and providing a reference of past lessons for the surging local actions in Taiwan, China today.
By Chen Ju-wei
From 2005 to 2018, based on the development of events, the period can be roughly divided into six major phases: the campus lunch parent empowerment movement, the emergence of food and agriculture education and local ingredient supply programs, the competent authorities' implementation of campus lunch policy, non-GMO campus lunches and the second wave of parent empowerment actions, the enshrinement of non-GMO school lunches into law, and the promotion of East Asian exchange.
The Fifth Period: Continued Post-Election Oversight - Non-GMO School Lunches Enshrined into Law (March 2015 - August 2016)
On March 28, 2015, the Campus Lunch Non-GMO Action Team published the 100-day progress report on non-GMO campus lunches in the six special municipalities[1], monitoring whether the mayors were fulfilling their campaign promises.
Ten days later, on April 8, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan instructed at a municipal meeting that starting from the first semester of the 2015 academic year, the "School Nutritional Lunch - Safe Ingredients Every Day"[2] policy would be implemented, subsidizing NT$5 per student per week for ingredient costs, providing organic vegetables three days a week, GAP-certified produce one day, and non-GMO ingredients one day.
In contrast, in the much-watched Taipei City, Mayor Ko Wen-je gave a special report to the city council on May 18. When asked by council members about the certification and oversight of non-GMO ingredients in school lunches, he admitted[3], "Currently there is no clear evidence of the health impact of genetically modified foods, and 95% of soybeans in Taiwan are genetically modified. It seems non-GMO is impossible to achieve, so the policy needs to be revised." This immediately sparked discussion from all sides.
On May 23. Taipei City Government Deputy Secretary-General Lee Wen-ying appeared at Taiwan's response to the global March Against Monsanto and stated, "Mayor Ko supports the policy of promoting non-GMO and organic ingredients in lunches, but the concerns raised by many council members are not without merit. The city government will hold a forum within a month as soon as possible, inviting groups from all sides to discuss the policy of using non-GMO ingredients in lunches."[4] Facing doubts about the non-GMO campus lunch policy being reneged on, the Taipei City Government finally made a preliminary positive response. (Editor's note: To this day, the forum has never been held.)
In September, at the start of the 2015 academic year, the Campus Lunch Non-GMO Action Team, through the municipal mailbox, requested the 19 county and city governments that had signed pledges to reply with the latest progress on their non-GMO campus lunch policies[5]. Just as the "GMO ingredients out of campus lunches" initiative was marking its first anniversary, unexpected news came from the Legislative Yuan.
On November 30, 2015, the Education and Culture Committee of the Legislative Yuan passed on first reading the draft amendment to certain articles of the School Health Act. In the future, all schools at all levels that provide meals nationwide, including primary and secondary school nutritional lunches and university cafeterias, would be fully prohibited from using genetically modified fresh ingredients and primary processed products. On December 14, the Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of the amendment to certain articles of the School Health Act, explicitly stipulating that schools providing meals are prohibited from using genetically modified fresh ingredients and their primary processed products[6].
Starting from February 2016, schools at all levels fully implemented the measure. The K-12 Education Administration of the Ministry of Education, the competent authority, issued letters providing local governments with recommended implementation plans. School lunches in Taiwan, China officially entered a new era of non-GMO ingredients.
However, because this policy involves genetically modified crops enmeshed in complex international political, economic, and trade structures, the backlash came very quickly. At the end of March, in the "2016 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers" published by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the policy banning GMO ingredients from campus meals was listed among Taiwan's technical barriers to trade (TBT), stating that "Taiwan has not provided a scientific basis for this ban, and once it takes effect, it will significantly impact U.S. soybean exports.”[7]
In May, newly inaugurated President Tsai Ing-wen proposed the important policy guideline of the "Five Links of Food Safety"[8]. In August, the Executive Yuan meeting proposed a clear policy direction for school lunch ingredient supply, stating that starting September 1, the Council of Agriculture would take on the work of safeguarding the safety of fresh agricultural products for school lunches[9], while also promoting strengthened ingredient registration and acceptance inspection operations, hoping to raise the current rate of only 10% of school lunch ingredients being domestically sourced and traceable. Starting next year, it would also initially promote that schoolchildren in the six special municipalities could eat organic ingredients one to two meals per week. From then on, school lunches in Taiwan, China entered the next phase: the domestic ingredient "Four Labels and One QR Code" policy chapter.
As for civil actions, building on the successful experience of the non-GMO school lunch campaign, international exchange movements focused mainly on Japan and South Korea in East Asia were launched.
In July 2016, the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation, through a project on campus, promoted a campus ingredient management plan called "School Lunch 22"[10]. Taking care for agriculture and food safety in Taiwan, China as its starting point, it focused on issues such as campus dietary safety and food-agriculture and environmental education across all 22 counties and cities nationwide, and further actively developed cooperation with Japan and South Korea, hoping to become a communication platform promoting East Asian exchange on agri-food actions.
In August, the School Lunch 22 project formally submitted an application to establish a national nonprofit organization, building on the project's two years of implementation results to continue promoting civil advocacy for school lunches in Taiwan, China.
[1] 100-day progress chart of non-GMO campus lunches in the six special municipalities. https://wp.me/p5NVQR-aB
[2] School nutritional lunch "Safe Ingredients Every Day". https://www.tycg.gov.tw/
[3] Taipei nutritional lunches to use non-GMO: Ko Wen-je says policy revision under consideration. http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1320852
[4] International March Against Monsanto Day: Taiwan, China not absent. Taipei questioned for not supporting anti-GMO? Deputy Secretary-General quietly appears to explain. https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/blog/70285/
[5] Non-GMO campus lunch policies of 19 counties and cities. https://wp.me/p5NVQR-K6
[6] Legislative Yuan passes third reading: GMO ingredients banned in school nutritional lunches. http://www.cna.com.tw/news/firstnews/201512140077-1.aspx
[7] United States Trade Representative publishes "2016 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers". http://www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/Detail/190894.aspx#.W4KiMegzY2w
[8] Five Links of Food Safety. https://www.ey.gov.tw/ofs/Content_List.aspx?n=B5B63D7640CC4BDC
[9] Who manages nutritional lunches? The Council of Agriculture beats its chest: domestic ingredients are my responsibility. https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/blog/86986/
[10] School Lunch 22. http://schoollunch.tw/content/info/Index.aspx
[11] Amendments to the "School Outsourced Boxed (Bulk) Meal Procurement Contract (Reference Template)" in response to the Five Links of Food Safety. https://www.edu.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=9E7AC85F1954DDA8&s=01F297ED9D474F09
[12] Learning from South Korea. https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/blog/96016/
[13] School Lunch Promotion Project Office. http://www.k12ealunch.nchu.edu.tw/
[14] HI MAATAW, Hello Orchid Island. http://schoollunch.tw/content/info/DiscussionDetail.aspx?Id=115
[15] Draft Food and Agriculture Education Act. https://www.coa.gov.tw/redirect_files.php?id=35380
[16] Taiwan, China-Japan-Korea Food Moments. https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/blog/108628/
[17] "Campus Nutritional Lunch" video and digital special report. https://vision.udn.com/vision/cate/12123
[18] 2018 First Taiwan, China School Lunch Competition. https://www.newsmarket.com.tw/blog/110577/