Yilan pushes for dietary health autonomy ordinance, becoming the first case nationwide
In recent years food safety problems have been reported frequently. Yesterday at the Yilan Green Expo, Yilan County Magistrate Lin Tsung-hsien announced the draft "Yilan County Dietary Health Rights Self-Governance Ordinance," the first of its kind nationwide. Its content covers food and farming education, food safety and friendly agriculture. In addition to promoting the use of local ingredients and food safety seals by restaurants, in the future every elementary and junior high school campus must have an educational farm, and schools may not provide food harmful to health. The draft is currently in the pre-announcement stage and is expected to be sent to the county council in May.
Ban on the use of food containers harmful to health
After the Datung blended-oil scandal broke last October, the Yilan County Government held a series of forums and set about drafting a dietary health rights bill. After half a year of preparation, the draft was finally released yesterday, and Yilan County Magistrate Lin Tsung-hsien deliberately chose yesterday, "World Health Day," to announce it. He said the self-governance ordinance draft has 16 articles in total, covering three major aspects: safety, adequacy and nutrition, and cultural preference. Through the self-governance ordinance, he hopes to safeguard the safety of county residents, while giving local healthy agricultural products priority for local use, so that local people can eat with peace of mind and live healthily.
Following earlier reports that many well-known coffee shops use No. 6 cups, which may release carcinogens on contact with high temperatures, the Yilan County Government explicitly stipulates in Article 11 of the self-governance ordinance: "It is prohibited to provide or use food containers harmful to health to hold hot food and beverages." Those who violate this twice shall be fined not less than 1,000 yuan and not more than 6,000 yuan. A food safety seal system will also be established in the future.
However, Chuang Shu-tzu, section chief of the Food and Drug Administration Section of the Yilan County Health Bureau, said the draft content still needs fine-tuning. In the future a Dietary Health Rights Promotion Committee will be formed, hiring scholars and experts, non-profit organizations and relevant representatives to discuss the detailed content together with the county government, such as which containers cannot be used and which pose health hazards.
Establishing local seals to promote local production and local sales
The draft expands on the county government's slogan "Green Yilan." Besides organic agriculture, it also guides conventional agriculture toward friendly cultivation, and establishes traceability for local agricultural products and rewards local production and local sales.
Chou Ching-an, director of the Yilan County Agriculture Department, said that opinions from all sides are currently being collected to establish two kinds of Yilan local seals: the "Yilan Strictly Selected" seal for organic agriculture, and the "Jin Ziran" seal for produce without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, with controls starting from the production end, but the relevant inspection systems and standards are still being drafted.
In addition, the draft also embodies the spirit of food and farming education. Article 7 stipulates that elementary and junior high schools must establish educational farms, but the location is not limited to the campus; they may cooperate with nearby farmland, and food and farming education must be integrated into the curriculum. Moreover, schools may not provide food harmful to health. It is expected to be sent to the county council for review in May.