Interim Director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Chiang Yu-mei has denied that a system for registering food products and ingredients set up in May is ineffective.
Chiang was speaking on Thursday in the wake of a new food safety scandal involving the use of a banned, potentially carcinogenic additive in a variety of dried tofu products. The existing system, set up just seven months ago, requires food manufacturers to register their products, ingredients, suppliers and buyers.
Staving off criticism that the existing system has proven ineffective, Chiang said that the FDA had been able to help health authorities track down the supplier of the illegal additive, Chien Hsin Enterprise of Tainan. The FDA discovered that the firm had supplied false information, covering up their sale of illegal dye, dimethyl yellow.
Chiang said that Chien Hsin’s actions are illegal, and added that the FDA will be ramping up inspections of food products to ensure compliance with regulations. Chiang also said that food manufacturers should look for the FDA issued registration number when purchasing ingredients, and should avoid using any ingredients that do not have a registration number.