A number of food companies are set to begin conducting in-house food safety inspections in line with an amendment to The Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation.
An initial group of companies will be required to have labs in place by December 10. The remaining companies subject to the new rules will have to complete work on their labs over the coming months. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expects that 200 food companies around Taiwan will have food safety labs in place by December next year.
In-house inspections will cover the entire food production process. Companies in charge of various stages of the process will be required to check the safety of ingredients and semi-finished products as well as finished products. Detailed regulations are in place for different types of food, such as seafood products and ready-to-eat meals.
However, there have been doubts about the effectiveness of leaving food safety inspections in the hands of food producers.
On Wednesday, FDA director Chiang Yu-mei said that under the new regulations, in-house checks will only be the first layer in the safety inspection process. A second and third layer of government inspections will be used to check the truth of company-issued safety reports.
Chiang said that the new regulations provide for the management and oversight of the entire food production process. She said that those with doubts about companies testing their products may not understand the amendment to the food safety act.