We're as shocked as you are, say Taiwan's food producers

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-11-19

Taisun president Chan Yueh-lin says the Spanish company from which he
imports olive oil is very respected. (File photo/Fang Chun-cher)

Food makers in Taiwan said on Nov. 17 that the nation's food safety standards and regulations should be as strict as international standards, and supervision mechanisms be better organized.

"There should be a national standard for us to follow to make it easier for us to find problems, if there are any," said Chan Yueh-lin, head of the Taiwan Food Industry Development Association and president of Taisun Enterprise Co, following the revelation that Taisun's olive oil imported from Spain contained the illegal coloring agent copper chlorophyllin.

"I think the problem would be how we test it," Chan said. "The Spanish company we are working with is over 100 years old and has a great reputation and it is inconceivable that something like this could happen."

Chan urged the government to come up with standards that match those in other countries. "We need a rule to follow," he said.

Lin Li-chung, head of Formosa Taffeta's food oil department, said the company is not capable of carrying out tests for copper chlorophyllin in the products they import. "We will not import them any more, nor items of which we cannot be 100% sure," Lin said.

An unnamed manager for Uni-President said the company's imports from Spain all came with certificates. "How do we know that the product can be wrong even when it has a certificate?" he said.