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One of the top stories from the past week was the appointment of a new health minister in Taiwan on Friday.
The new minister is Dr. Chiang Been-huang, a food safety expert currently serving as a cabinet minister.
Former Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta resigned earlier this month following a series of food safety scandals.
The Cabinet said that Chiang has been involved in dealing with the aftermath of the food safety scandals for the past month, so his transition to health minister will be smooth. The Cabinet said that in the past, the position of health minister had usually been filled by experts in the fields of medicine or public health. But in light of the recent food safety scandals, the Cabinet has appointed an expert in food science to solve Taiwan’s food safety problems.
Chiang holds a Ph.D. in food science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and taught at the Institute of Food Science and Technology at National Taiwan University for 14 years.
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Also this past week, the Changhua District Court ordered that the former head of the Ting Hsin International Group, Wei Ying-chun, be held incommunicado after a hearing on Friday.
Subsidiaries of the Ting Hsin group allegedly sold lard mixed with oil meant for animal feed. This affected hundreds of food manufacturers using Ting Hsin oil in their products, including the prestigious I-Mei Foods Co.
The Changhua District Court also ordered the detention of Ting Hsin executive Tseng Chi-ming, who was in charge of the company’s plant in Pingtung County. Both Wei and Tseng maintained their innocence. Wei’s lawyer will appeal the court's decision on Monday.
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And finally this past week, the Cabinet 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.