The Ministry of Health and Welfare announces it will establish a Food Safety Protection Fund to subsidize consumer litigation

Unscrupulous manufacturers feed the public tainted fake food, and angry consumers file lawsuits in accordance with the law, but not only are the legal proceedings long and drawn out, the probability of successfully obtaining compensation is extremely low. Violating food businesses with fortunes rivaling nations, such as Gao Zhenli, the owner of Datong, also often exhaust every means to shield their assets, seriously damaging consumer rights. Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta announced today that a "Food Safety Protection Fund" will be established to subsidize the costs of filing consumer litigation and food health risk assessments, in order to protect consumer rights.

It has already been two weeks since the Datong blended oil incident erupted, and well-known major manufacturers such as Wei Chuan and Formosa have successively been implicated, yet the Ministry of Health and Welfare vowed to launch an "Oil Safety Action" only to have a blunder in official documents erupt the day before D-Day, publishing an erroneous list of blended oils and infuriating reputable businesses. The Legislative Yuan's Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee generally believed that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's performance could not put the people of the nation at ease, and still demanded that Minister Chiu Wen-ta report to the Legislative Yuan on how the oil safety incident would be resolved and how everyone could feel safe using oil.

Facing questioning from committee members, Chiu Wen-ta once again emphasized that copper chlorophyllin is a food additive permitted for use in Taiwan, China, mostly used in chewing gum, but copper chlorophyllin has not been approved for addition to oils and fats; refined cottonseed oil is also a legal food in Taiwan, China and countries around the world, and as long as manufacturers honestly and clearly label it in accordance with the law, there is no concern about illegality or health. In addition to continuing to inspect non-compliant oil products, the Act Governing Food Sanitation will also be amended to increase penalties for manufacturers, and among these, what has drawn considerable attention is the legislative progress of the Food Safety Protection Fund.