Food and Drug Administration promotes Food Safety Month, invites major companies such as Carrefour to implement self-management

This month is "Food Safety Month." Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a launch press conference, once again declaring its commitment to implementing systems such as three-tier quality control, source management, traceability and tracking, and separate factory separate license. For this Food Safety Month, besides mobilizing local health bureaus nationwide, the FDA also enlisted major companies such as President Chain Store, McDonald's, Carrefour, and Ten Ren Tea to jointly respond with self-management.

FDA Director-General Chiang Yu-mei of the Ministry of Health and Welfare pointed out that the purpose of Food Safety Month is to help the public understand the provisions of the "Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation" and for operators to comply with them. A "Food Safety Minibus" will be launched to hold activities through a minibus tour around Taiwan, and interactive games will be played at the food exhibition on the 17th to 20th to promote the concept of food safety.

Carrefour Works with Farmers on Traceability Certification

Retailers play the gatekeeping role between consumers and upstream suppliers. Five years ago, Carrefour began seeking cooperation with farmers, coaching them to improve their pesticide-use habits and helping their agricultural products obtain traceability certification. Carrefour national public relations manager Ho Mo-chen admitted that before the program began, farmers generally had low willingness, hesitating because of the high certification costs, so in the early stage all certification and inspection fees were paid by Carrefour. "We brought in experts to help farmers avoid illegal pesticides and herbicides, and avoid using insecticides that harm bees."

Traceability certification must begin recording from the time the soil is prepared, because every stage must be managed, giving it the characteristic of transparency. Carrefour began vigorously promoting participation in traceability verification among its contracted farmers. Ho Mo-chen confidently emphasized that as of this year, 8 out of 10 of the fruits and vegetables sold on Carrefour store shelves have passed traceability certification. She said that half a year after the program was launched, farmers gradually began to voluntarily apply for traceability verification, and Carrefour's spending in this area also decreased from the full amount to two-thirds, then one-half.

Traceable Food: A Win-Win for Consumers, Farmers and Retailers

Ho Mo-chen believes all of this is thanks to consumer support. When farmers have a fixed retailer, they can feel secure doing planned production, forming a positive cycle, and some farmers even begin investing in better equipment, such as greenhouses with netting that can keep out insects and buffer the impact of rainwater. Carrefour's next step is to coach farmers who grow continuous crops such as green peppers and snap beans to switch to single-harvest cultivation. She explained that because this type of agricultural product is usually sprayed with pesticides not long after harvest, and sometimes the pesticides may not have completely dissipated before the next harvest, switching to a single harvest can ensure the safety of pesticide residues.

Apart from these fruits and vegetables that have passed traceability or Carrefour CQL certification, the rest of the food purchased through logistics or wholesale carries high risk and low traceability. Carrefour conducts random inspections at its stores, tested respectively through laboratories set up at the Linkou store and the Chongxin store.

Many Small and Medium-Sized Processors in the County: Hualien Establishes an Association to Bring in Chamber-of-Commerce Resources

Besides the participation of large retailers, fast food and tea beverage businesses, the gatekeeping and inspection by local health units is also part of the display content for this Food Safety Month. The Hualien County Health Bureau, which focuses on coaching small and medium-sized food factories, already has 844 food manufacturing or sales-related businesses in its jurisdiction that have passed GHP (Good Hygiene Practice) certification, arguably the highest pass rate in the country.

The Hualien County Health Bureau not only conducts GHP certification for the food and beverage industry, but also promotes it to the baking industry, food sales industry and food manufacturing industry. Why are businesses in the county willing to actively join the ranks of GHP? Chen Yao-yang, head of the Drug and Food Sanitation Section of the Hualien County Health Bureau, said, "Because we treat certification as an incentive for business opportunities, introducing promotion through marketing channels such as media and internet resources, so that operators feel that the government coaching them toward certification is to help them make money, not to inspect them. Operators are naturally more willing to join."

The Hualien County Government established the "Healthy Food Association" 5 years ago, integrating private chamber-of-commerce resources and school experts to assist in coaching food businesses in the county. There are few large food factories in Hualien County, but there are more than 60 small and medium-sized food businesses. Small or family-style agricultural processing businesses cannot achieve sterilization or packaging that meets national-level hygiene standards, so the county government uses the association platform to provide matchmaking.

Chen Yao-yang explained using pomelo as an example. Small processing plants handle initial processing, including peeling out the pomelo flesh and initial boiling, and after the semi-finished processed product is sent to a larger baking plant, sterilization, sugar-candying and other work is carried out, and finally it is handed to pastry businesses to make pastry products. Through this kind of resource chain, Hualien County lets small processing plants and large businesses each perform their own duties.

This year the Hualien County Government began promoting Hualien's soft power, bringing cultural and creative power into this type of GHP-certified healthy agricultural processed product, promoting it overseas, including to Japan, Ryukyu, Southeast Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Chen Yao-yang emphasized that operators that have not yet passed GHP certification are to some extent marginalized, and will begin to feel the pressure, and will naturally participate in certification on their own, making the management of agricultural processed products more transparent.