Council of Agriculture confirms MOA organic certification temporarily suspended; Taiwan Tea Association also suspended

0926 Latest News: TAF and the Organic Materials Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency issued a clarification, stating that MOA is not suspended; it has only temporarily stopped accepting new certification applications due to an audit procedure issue. For detailed information, please click the news to read.

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Hsu Chung-jen, president of PX Mart and known as the "godfather of the distribution industry," said in an interview with China Times that the "organic storm" would be another food safety issue following the gutter oil incident. This statement drew attention in the Legislative Yuan today. Legislator Lee Ching-hua questioned Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji and Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Li Tsang-lang on this issue, and unexpectedly received the claim that two certification bodies, the "International Nature Farming and Ecological Foundation" and the "Taiwan Tea Association," had their certification authority suspended by the Agriculture and Food Agency because pesticide residues were detected in organic products they had certified.

Because the "International Nature Farming and Ecological Foundation" (MOA) is a long-established organic certification body in the country, the news caused an uproar in the organic agriculture sector as soon as it came out. Especially since Hsu Chung-jen's "organic storm" remark came right after food safety issues had drawn public attention, the statements by Chen Bao-ji and Li Tsang-lang undoubtedly shook consumers' confidence in domestic organic agricultural products.

MOA's auditing ability questioned, temporarily suspended

The statements by Chen Bao-ji and Li Tsang-lang led outsiders to believe there was a food safety controversy over organic agricultural products. However, one of the parties involved, the "International Nature Farming and Ecological Foundation" (MOA), explained that this year, when MOA underwent evaluation by the Council of Agriculture and the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF) regarding the auditing performance of MOA auditors, improvements were requested in the auditors' auditing methods.

Based on this incident, the Council of Agriculture believed that MOA auditors' auditing ability should be strengthened, and therefore decided to stop MOA from accepting certification applications from new organic agricultural and food product clients, and to stop accepting re-evaluation of existing clients after their certification certificates expire.

MOA stated that to avoid causing panic among farmers and consumers due to its own negligence, it had already announced on its official website that it was temporarily suspending acceptance of certification. In accordance with the competent authority's requirements, it will correct the auditors' deficiencies in the near future and, after correction, undergo evaluation again by the Council of Agriculture and TAF. Only after confirming that its certification capability is sound will it reopen applications from farmers. This is absolutely not, as rumored outside, a suspension caused by certified products failing inspection and being taken off shelves.

MOA emphasized that among the 95 agricultural products sampled by the Council of Agriculture this year, only two rice grain lots had pesticide residue problems due to contamination in the warehouse. This shows that the foundation has credibility in food safety control for farmers, and the certification qualifications of existing clients will not be affected.

Taiwan Tea Association: voluntarily withdrew from certification, unrelated to safety

As for the Taiwan Tea Association, a director surnamed Chen at the certification center said that during this year's annual evaluation by the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation and the Agriculture and Food Agency, the evaluation committee requested that the association supplement certain documents, but no consensus was reached during the back-and-forth exchange of documents. The Taiwan Tea Association, considering insufficient staffing, decided to voluntarily withdraw from certification. There was no problem with the safety of client products, and this was unrelated.