Rice noodle standards to be relaxed even further? Food management riddled with loopholes sparks concern

The toxic starch incident exposes the Department of Health's regulatory loopholes, and at the same time, at the end of last month, rice noodle manufacturers quietly convened a nationwide rice noodle manufacturers' conference, stressing that "even one grain of rice still counts as rice noodles," in an attempt to persuade the government to revise the CNS national standard, and the Department of Health representative present even echoed their agreement, comparing it to "sun cakes that contain no sun." Rice noodle manufacturers, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, and the Department of Health will hold a meeting in June. With tainted food running rampant everywhere, the Department of Health should come up with countermeasures to safeguard rice noodle quality, and not let the public eat products that offer nothing but empty calories, or even have unknown chemical starches added to them.

Manufacturers: "Even one grain of rice still counts as rice noodles"

Nearly half a year since the fake rice noodle incident broke out, many manufacturers failed to meet the national standard CNS 11172: rice noodles, which requires a minimum rice content of 50%. Kang Chao-chou, Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health, stated that current regulations may pose difficulties for manufacturers, and that "the greatest common denominator" must be reached after taking manufacturers' opinions into consideration. On the 28th of last month, the Hsinchu City Rice Noodle Manufacturers' Association held a nationwide rice noodle manufacturers' conference, where many manufacturers claimed that rice noodles are a flavor built up over the long term, that the point is not whether the rice content is high or low, and that they absolutely will not allow the government to remove the two characters "rice noodles."

A reporter from Newsmarket was on site and heard manufacturers stress: "What we make is rice noodles, but for those below 2.5% down to 1% or 0.1% (editor's note: referring to protein content, where 2.5% represents a rice content of 50%), we actually cannot label them as rice noodles, so we would have to label them as winter noodles (editor's note: under CNS 1484, a rice content below 50% is called blended vermicelli). This is the part that none of our Hsinchu manufacturers can accept." "Even if it has just one grain of rice it is still called rice noodles... and as for this flavor, all of us manufacturers have worked hard to bring the flavor up to the level of rice noodles."

Rice noodle manufacturers stressed that they had honestly reflected the cost of making rice noodles from corn starch, did not deliberately raise prices, and absolutely did not deceive consumers; the fake rice noodle incident was merely a matter of unclear labeling.

Manufacturers: "CNS 11172 is a highway that no one will ever drive on"

Some manufacturers stressed that national standards are not legally mandatory, and that civil groups should not use them to suppress manufacturers. Moreover, if very few people in the industry meet the national standard for rice noodles, that means the national standard for rice noodles (CNS 11172) is incomplete, and the national standard for rice noodles should be revised to match the industry consensus.

Rice noodle manufacturers said: "Suppose CNS 11172 is a highway, but none of us has ever driven on this highway, and yet it says this highway of mine is built, and none of you wants to drive on it; I think that is unreasonable. You have to build the interchange first, and then I will drive on it. You finish building it and then say, hurry up and drive on this one, but it is very far from my home; why would I drive all the way back from there for no reason? It just wastes my gas money, and it is of no help to us manufacturers at all."

The Department of Health representative present also echoed the manufacturers' views: "A sun cake does not contain sun, and the most important thing about the term rice noodles is that all of you must label it clearly, the ingredients and amounts must be labeled clearly; as for the rest, let us all work on it together."

However, honest labeling is only a basic requirement, and whether the fact that a sun cake has no sun can be mentioned in the same breath as rice noodles having no rice is something that probably still depends on whether consumers accept it.

National standards have no force of law; a meeting will be held in early June

In response to the rice noodle association's demands, Su Po-chang, Section Chief of the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, replied that as of now he had not yet seen the opinions submitted by the rice noodle association; after the rice noodle incident broke out, manufacturers, experts and the competent authorities were invited, and everyone had a consensus on the current standard, so it should not be lowered, and another meeting would be held in early June. However, Su Po-chang also stressed that CNS is currently only voluntarily adopted by manufacturers, and the related labeling and constraints still depend on the Department of Health.

In this regard, Tsai Shu-chen, head of the Food Division of the Food and Drug Administration under the Department of Health, only repeatedly stated that in the future they would discuss with the relevant units, and did not rule out requiring certain categories to mandatorily adopt CNS standards; as for which categories, she was unwilling to disclose, only stressing that when amending the law, all aspects must be considered comprehensively, not just targeting rice noodles alone, and that a final decision could only be made after discussion with the relevant units and the industry.