Taoyuan City Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and representatives of Taiwanese food manufacturers on Thursday (Nov. 7) opened the 2019 Taoyuan LOHAS Food Safety Carnival, a four-day event focused on the promotion of food safety and traceability.
As a large number of food manufacturers are based in Taoyuan, whether food safety can be guaranteed in Taiwan depends heavily on the city’s food industry, remarked Mayor Cheng. In addition to showcasing the high-quality products of Taoyuan-based food companies, the main focus of this year’s food safety carnival is to promote food traceability.
Food traceability and the transparency of food manufacturing processes are of the utmost importance since they ensure that meals served on the table of every household are safe and healthy, according to the mayor. Food safety cannot solely rely on regulations and inspections by the authorities, management conducted by food manufacturers themselves is even more important, he said.
Cheng Shun-Ping (鄭舜平), acting secretary-general of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said there are approximately 36,600 food companies in Taoyuan, which provide half of the food of the entire country. “If there is no food safety in Taoyuan, there will be no food safety across Taiwan,” said the official.
Through various activities organized during the carnival, consumers will also be equipped with food-related knowledge and thus be more capable of purchasing food and ingredients wisely, said Cheng. Among the numerous food ingredients and products on display at the carnival, Chinese herbal medicine is a key highlight.
The mayor observed that since winter is coming, people are craving more Chinese herbal tonic soups. The Department of Public Health, which organized the event, has hence planned a section for Chinese herbal medicine, and exhibitors there will teach consumers how to choose ingredients and avoid low-quality products, he said.
