Imported pork is right there beside you; the Taiwan Pig label can hardly guarantee its source; how long can the wave of support for local pork last?

In response to the entry of ractopamine pork, all pork products in the country must be labeled with their place of origin starting this year. Under the revealing mirror of the "country of origin of pork" labeling rule, oden, roast meat bento boxes, ham, bacon and hot dogs all showed their true form as "imported pork," and only then did consumers realize that daily life had long been filled with imported pork.

On the other hand, the "Taiwan Pig" label has also bloomed everywhere, and has become a shopkeepers' talisman of "stick it on and you'll be blessed." With insufficient inspectors, there is a fear of confusion in which "the label says Taiwan pig, but what is sold is imported pork." The public appears to have the right to know and can choose which country's pork to consume, but if enforcement is weak, origin labeling will be nothing but an empty formality.

Although Taiwanese pig farmers stress the competitiveness of local pork and are glad to see people buying by name, many shops that claim to use imported pork have not seen their business decline. The staying power of this wave of enthusiasm for Taiwan pigs is probably not something to be optimistic about.

So imported pork is right beside you and me

According to the latest labeling rules for the place of origin of pork ingredients, whether packaged or loose food, food sellers must label the place of origin (country) of the pork ingredients used starting January 1, 110 ROC year, and the place of origin must be the country of slaughter. To avoid leaving businesses at a loss, Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung even personally visited various parts of the country to promote and guide businesses on labeling methods.

As a result, food and beverage shops one after another announced information on the place of origin of the pork they use, and only then did everyone discover that foods that are "not Taiwan pork" had long been flooding our lives. In addition to the more easily imagined bacon, ham, hot dogs and hamburger patties, the pig ears served as a side dish at chain beef noodle shops, oden at chain convenience stores, frozen dumplings, microwaved mapo tofu rice bowls, and scallion-braised pork instant noodles all showed traces of imported pork.

In addition, freshly cooked Hong Kong-style dim sum claypot rice, Southeast Asian bak kut teh, Macao pork chop buns, fried dumplings at breakfast shops, sauce-glazed pearl rice burgers, and Vietnamese fried spring rolls also used imported pork.

This not only greatly slapped the faces of officials who swore that "imported pork doesn't taste good, you can tell as soon as it hits your mouth," but also made people in the country doubt their own "picky palates."

The "Taiwan Pig" label blooms everywhere; stick it on and you'll be blessed?

On the other hand, the Taiwan Pig label has also bloomed everywhere, with chaos in abundance. The competent authority for food labeling was originally the Ministry of Health and Welfare, but other units, as if feeling guilty about not doing their part for Taiwan pigs, introduced all kinds of Taiwan Pig labels one after another. Some netizens joked, "After collecting them all, can we redeem them for prizes?" At the central level there were the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Economic Affairs; at the local level there were county and city governments and health bureaus; even shops had designs of their own.

Wu Chun-ming, secretary-general of the Fengjia Tourist Night Market Management Committee, pointed out that vendors are all willing to cooperate with government regulations, "but can't we avoid having so many drivers pulling in different directions?" Vendor stalls have little space, yet they have to paste up a pile of labels: business registration certificates, hygiene certificates, non-GMO certificates, and now another Taiwan Pig certificate. "Why not control it directly at the source, with one certificate solving everything?"

A Taiwanese restaurant in Taoyuan told the reporter: "I chose to stick this pink one (Taoyuan City Government version), it's prettier. There are four others in the drawer; which one do you want to see?"