Food Safety Act draft passes third reading, designated products must label main ingredient percentages

NewsMarket exposed in January this year that "rice noodles contain no rice," shocking society, and yesterday, on the last day of the legislative session, at past ten in the evening, the Legislative Yuan passed the third reading of the <Food Sanitation Management Act> amendment draft: in the future, products designated by the central competent authority must indicate the percentage of the main ingredient, and violators may be fined NT$30,000 to NT$3 million.

In addition, in response to industrial raw materials circulating in the food sector, regarding the labeling of food additives, the amendment draft stipulates: in the future, when labeled by functional form such as emulsifiers, leavening agents, etc., the name of the chemical raw material used must also be added; however, the specific provisions are to be set in the enforcement rules, and whether they can be fully implemented remains to be seen.

The third-reading provisions also confirm the addition of a "toxic starch clause": it clearly stipulates that "adding additives not approved by the central competent authority" is an illegal act. The related administrative sanctions and criminal liability have also been greatly increased: administrative fines for adulterating illegal additives are raised from a maximum of NT$6 million to NT$15 million; if people die as a result, the criminal liability for the adder is changed from a maximum of 7 years' imprisonment to a possible life sentence, and the maximum concurrent fine is doubled from NT$10 million to NT$20 million.