Eggs Spark Controversy; Council of Agriculture States: Full Washing and Grading to Be Promoted in Future, Packaging Material Not the Focus

Under the Council of Agriculture's new policy, eggs must be transported and sold using "single-use packaging material," but do traditional plastic baskets count as single-use packaging material? Recently the poultry egg industry and the competent authorities have been locked in endless debate, and even within the Council of Agriculture opinions differ: the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine holds that as long as a plastic basket is discarded and reprocessed it can be regarded as single-use packaging material, while Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng holds that internationally recognized single-use packaging material consists of just three types - cardboard boxes, molded pulp egg cartons, and plastic boxes - and that whether traditional plastic baskets are recycled is difficult to verify, so they should not be used.

As the controversy continues, the Council of Agriculture came forward today to clarify that "single-use packaging material is only an interim task," and that since last year there has been a six-month buffer period; regardless of whether operators use single-use packaging material, after the six months the inspections will show the real picture. "The plastic basket is just an issue the operators have raised"; from the perspective of upgrading the egg industry, washed and graded eggs will be promoted across the board in the future, and which material is used for packaging is not the focus.

How Are Plastic Baskets Recycled and Inspected?

The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine holds that plastic egg baskets can be regarded as single-use packaging material, but how exactly are they recycled? Tang Fu-chun, owner of Shunhua Plastics, points out that mid-level egg wholesalers provide plastic baskets to egg farmers; the egg farmers put the eggs into the baskets and affix traceable QRCODE stickers, after which the wholesalers collect them and hand them over to large vehicles for transport to various places, passing them on to local wholesalers who distribute them to grocery stores, breakfast shops and other retail points. Recycling works in reverse: once the plastic baskets have been used, the wholesalers collect them all the way back from the retail shops, then pass them to recycling operators for reprocessing - that is the complete life history of a plastic basket.

On the inspection side, Huang Tang-chang, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said there are three key points. First, egg farmers must affix highly adhesive QRCODE stickers to the baskets, so the source of the packaging material can be confirmed. Second, to prevent unscrupulous operators from tearing off the stickers or smearing them with organic solvents in order to reuse plastic baskets and other packaging materials, wholesalers will also be asked to provide figures for basket purchases and scrapping; by cross-checking against the QRCODE, the whereabouts of the baskets can be determined. Finally, health authorities will confirm whether wholesalers actually send empty baskets back to recycling plants for reprocessing. These three steps are used to achieve comprehensive inspection.

Council of Agriculture: Washed and Graded Eggs to Be Promoted Across the Board in Future; Single-Use Packaging Material Is an Interim Task

In response, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung stressed, "We hope everyone will focus on the overall policy rather than dwelling too much on details. The Council of Agriculture's ultimate goal is to promote washed and graded eggs across the board, so the regulations will be adjusted accordingly." Chen explained that in the future, as long as eggs have been washed and graded and are clean, it makes no difference what packaging material is used. If operators do carry out washing and grading, they will not need single-use packaging material; only those that do not wash and grade must use single-use packaging material.

At the same time, Wang Chung-shu, Deputy Director of the Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Industry, also pointed out that since the law was amended and passed in ROC year 103, there has been continuous communication with operators; besides extensively gathering industry opinions, more than ten briefing sessions have been held, and the materials for single-use packaging have also changed many times, all in order to suit operators' convenience of use. Operators should do their utmost to comply with the regulations.

Wang also stated that to implement the policy of promoting washed and graded eggs across the board, this year shared "large-scale egg washing and grading collection centers" will first be set up in Changhua and Pingtung, encouraged through private investment and government subsidies. In the future, nearby egg farmers can send their eggs to the washing and grading centers, and then ship them out through unified packaging, thereby achieving disease-prevention effects, and a complete washing and grading mechanism can also be established.

"At present only fifty percent of eggs are washed and graded; every day five to six million loose eggs go unwashed and ungraded," Wang Chung-shu stressed. Therefore, by the end of this year the washing and grading centers will be pushed to officially begin operation as soon as possible, bringing the interim task of the "single-use packaging material" policy to an end and moving toward the fully washed and graded egg model of the United States. In addition, there will be ongoing communication with egg dealers and egg farmers, assessing operators' production capacity and area to decide the form of cooperation with the washing and grading centers.

Full Washing and Grading Would Allow Reusable Packaging Material to Be Permitted

Regarding the future promotion of washed and graded eggs across the board, which could exempt operators from the single-use packaging material restriction, Tsai Jung-hung, head of Quanxing Ranch, expressed agreement. He pointed out that if large quantities of paper trays and paper boxes could only be used once, it would not only be very troublesome and costly but also very unfriendly to the environment; if eggs could be made as clean as washed and graded eggs, allowing the use of reusable packaging material is what the Council of Agriculture ought to do.

Regarding the Council of Agriculture reducing the restriction to single-use packaging material only through promoting washed and graded eggs across the board, Chang Chien-feng, head of Quanyou Ranch, expressed strong agreement, because with 20,000 chickens like his, the packaging material cost for washed and graded eggs comes to three to four hundred thousand yuan a year, which is no small burden, but it can prevent cross-infection that causes chickens to fall ill, and the disease-prevention costs saved each year amount to over a million yuan. In the future, if the era of washed and graded eggs is promoted across the board, compared with the present protection of only single-use packaging material, the possibility of cross-infection will be lower and disease-prevention effects better. He said he would absolutely raise both hands in support; this policy is good news for both farmers and consumers.