Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to begin inspecting overseas oil manufacturers in January of next year. That’s following a series of food scandals involving toxic edible oils, which have rocked Taiwan for nearly two months.
The interim head of the FDA, Chiang Yu-mei, spoke on Tuesday about the administration’s plans for conducting checks overseas.
“There are already nine countries [which have welcomed the inspections], and we are still discussing the possibility with three additional countries. Once we have set up a list [of approved suppliers], we will be able to conduct more rigorous checks at our borders. We will begin overseas factory visits in January,” said Chiang.
The countries which have welcomed checks by Taiwan’s FDA inspectors include: the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Japan, and Vietnam.
Chiang said that once the checks are completed, the FDA will draw up a list of authorized factories. Taiwanese companies importing ingredients from those factories will still have to report the imported goods and submit them for testing. Local companies can also import from suppliers that are not on the list, but that would entail even more rigorous customs procedures.