The Cabinet has passed an amendment to the Feed Control Act proposed by the Council of Agriculture (COA) in response to a series of food safety scandals. In the most recent food scares, substandard oil meant for animal feed has been found in oil products sold for human consumption.
Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng said on Thursday that the revised regulations will tighten controls on all animal feed products and additives.
"In the future, companies will have to provide a detailed list of ingredients for their products in order to import or manufacture animal feed," said Wang. "Also, imported and locally produced products will all be inspected by the COA before they are sold on the market. A series of management measures and a tracking system will be established to monitor the entire supply chain."
Wang said that the new regulations will apply to all animal feed companies and also cover genetically modified animal feed products. Violators will be fined NT$600,000 (US$20,000).
Meanwhile, the legislature has also passed another version of the amendment to the Feed Control Act proposed by lawmakers. This version of the amendment raises the penalty for violators by 1,000 times. Party caucuses will conduct negotiations on these two versions of the amendment soon.