- Department:Evaluation Management Division
Food safety has always been the first concern of citizens. Since the establishment of the Toxic and Chemical Substances Bureau, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) at the end of 2016, it has controlled and managed chemical substances with food safety risks from the source. It completed more than 3,000 guidance visits to domestic chemical raw material operators per year for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019, and announced that 20 kinds (27 items) of chemical substances with food safety risks, such as rhodamine B and Sudan pigment, were classified as class four toxic chemical substances. In addition, with cross-ministry cooperation and risk communication, it has built a tripartite partnership among government, industry and the public to work together to maintain food safety.
The EPA emphasizes that 2020 will be a year with an important leap for the source control of our country’s Five-Point of Food Safety. After the "Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act" was amended and promulgated on January 16, 2019, the relevant sub-laws have been amended gradually. In 2020, in accordance with the special chapter on "Concerned Chemical Substances," the control and management of chemical substances with food safety risks can be expanded to strengthen the management responsibility of upstream operators, further preventing these chemical substances from systematically flowing into the food chain.
The EPA states that, since 2017, it has been cooperating with local environmental protection agencies to promote more than 3,000 chemical (raw) materials guidance visits per year, and to implement the “four-must management” (including separate storage, clear labeling, usage notification, and flow tracking). In addition, it has cross-ministry cooperation with the health and agricultural administration units on folk custom and new year holiday projects to conduct joint inspection and guidance, and advocates the self-management of chemical substances to egg farmers and feed producers. There were no more cases of systematic inflow of toxic chemical substances with food safety risks into the food supply chain in 2018 and 2019.
In addition, the EPA also promotes awareness activities of "Knowing Chemical Substances Used in Daily Life" to the general public and students to understand the safety usage of chemical substances often used in daily life. There were 77 community activities held in 2018, 45 chemical substance safety promotion activities conducted in elementary school campuses and 24 community activities held in 2019, a total of 69 events were conducted to deep root the concepts of food and chemical safety.
The EPA emphasizes that it will continue to cooperate with other ministries this year to supervise and give guidance to the chemical raw material operators, egg farmers, feed producers, and handlers of listed toxic and concerned chemical substances, preventing chemical substances with food safety risks from flowing into the food chain to safeguard citizens’ health, and let people to feel at ease and be healthy for the New Year.
