Loose eggs can be sold, but the bureau director requires that both transport and sale use disposable packaging materials.
Article 14 of the Animal Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act is about to take effect; starting tomorrow (December 24, 105 ROC year), the loading of fresh poultry eggs shall use disposable loading containers or packaging materials. If grocery stores and breakfast shops continue to load loose eggs without disposable packaging, they may be fined up to 150,000 yuan.
"To be honest, the egg dealers have reacted very strongly!" said Gao Chuanmo, chairperson of the Taipei City Egg Dealers Union, bluntly stating that the load-bearing capacity of disposable cardboard box packaging is simply insufficient; he suggested that public agencies should instead require egg dealers to strengthen the cleaning and disinfection of empty egg boxes as a more practical approach.
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine: Loose eggs easily spread avian influenza
"South Korea has seen an outbreak of H5N6 zoonotic avian influenza, the epidemic situation is very severe, and Taiwan's disease prevention cannot afford to let down its guard." The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine pointed out that eggs in most traditional markets, grocery stores and breakfast shops are still sold loose and unwashed and ungraded, which may carry viruses out of poultry farms.
The Council of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine both stated that the new system had actually completed its legislative amendment as early as 2014, and operators were also given a two-year buffer period, "but over these two years, layer hen operators have not improved." They even communicated through elected representatives, hoping to replace the new approach with cleaning and disinfecting empty egg boxes.
Gao Chuanmo stated that the load-bearing capacity of cardboard boxes is simply insufficient, "and if the rainy season comes again, it will be even worse!" Although agricultural authorities tried to find better cardboard boxes, the results were still poor; Huang Kung-chang, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, stated that there are many disposable packaging materials, "although from an environmental standpoint, it is recommended to use decomposable cardboard box materials." But operators may also use plastic packaging.
Egg Dealers Union: We hope disinfection alone will be enough
"As long as empty egg boxes are properly cleaned and disinfected, effective disease prevention can naturally be achieved!" Gao Chuanmo pointed out that he still hopes the government will use advisory notices to gently guide operators in implementing disinfection work; but Huang Kung-chang stated that indeed, if cleaning and disinfecting egg boxes is implemented, disease prevention can be achieved, "but looking at the two-year buffer period, implementation has been less than ideal."
In response, Gao Chuanmo also admitted that implementation in rural areas is indeed not very good, "but the Egg Dealers Union is still continuously providing guidance." And in metropolitan areas, cleaning and disinfecting empty egg boxes is basically implemented; Gao Chuanmo strongly suggested that public agencies replace the "disposable packaging" policy with "cleaning and disinfecting egg boxes."
Failure to change will result in fines of 30,000 yuan or more
"The law has already been enacted, and at present there seems to be no room for turning back." Huang Kung-chang emphasized that washing and graded packaging of eggs is also about upgrading the entire industry chain, "not only to reduce the risk of poultry disease transmission, but also for consumer hygiene and safety."
The Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine stated that although it will not issue a fine the first time a violation is found after the rule takes effect tomorrow, it will first provide guidance and require correction within a deadline, but if upon re-inspection the packaging has not been changed to disposable materials, a fine will be issued, with the fine amount being no less than NT$30,000 and no more than NT$150,000.
As for how long after requiring correction within a deadline a re-inspection will be conducted? "There is no explicit provision on how long before re-inspection." Huang Kung-chang stated, but if enforcement is too urgent, that probably would not be a solution either, "the intensity is still decided by local governments."
Poultry Production Section: Researching new packaging materials and transport methods
But switching to disposable packaging will inevitably increase material and transport costs; in response, the Poultry Production Section of the Council of Agriculture stated that it has commissioned the poultry farmers' association and representatives of various industry groups to jointly discuss and review the egg pricing system, and based on the current situation of domestic chicken farms, roads, transport, egg logistics and commercial operations, to plan transport methods for flatbed trucks carrying paper egg boxes and paper egg trays.
The Poultry Production Section also stated that in the future it will subsidize egg production and marketing operators in setting up regional collection centers and egg box washing machines, and through the joint egg marketing model, promote the use of disposable packaging materials for loading poultry eggs at layer farms, and establish demonstration and promotion of centralized egg box washing operations.
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