Cabinet to introduce food safety law amendments amid oil scandal

Taipei, July 18 (CNA) The Executive Yuan is planning to pass draft amendments to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation on July 23 in response to the recent Central Union Oil scandal, according to a Cabinet official on Saturday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move follows Premier Cho Jung-tai's (卓榮泰) recent instruction to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) to complete the draft amendments within a week.

The MOHW will brief the Executive Yuan on the draft proposal on Monday before the amendments are submitted to the Cabinet meeting for discussion and approval on Thursday, the official said, citing Cho.

According to a Cabinet news release issued earlier this week, the proposed amendments will strengthen oversight of raw materials and manufacturing processes by tightening inspection standards and requiring trial production and testing before major manufacturing changes are implemented.

The draft will also require more frequent self-inspections by food businesses, tougher oversight of manufacturers' in-house laboratories and new immediate reporting requirements.

In addition, the amendments seek to strengthen third-party certification requirements, increase factory inspections and expand testing of high-risk businesses to improve food safety risk management.

Speaking to reporters at an event in New Taipei, Cho said the government would introduce several measures to strengthen food safety following the tainted oil scandal, with the MOHW set to report its proposed law amendments to the Executive Yuan on Monday.

The tainted oil case came to light in late June after Taichung-based Central Union Oil Corp. reported that a 1,300-metric-ton batch of soybean oil produced on April 4 contained the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene at nearly four times the legal limit in Taiwan.

Authorities have said the company learned of the contamination nearly three weeks before reporting it, while prosecutors are investigating whether it should face criminal liability.

Meanwhile, Cho denied allegations of a government cover-up, saying that any delay in disclosing information involved the companies concerned rather than government agencies.

During the event, he called for continued cooperation between the central and local governments in handling the scandal.