Department of Health, Taipei City Government

The Department of Health, Taipei City Government, actively works to raise the level of food hygiene of Taipei’s public markets. It was announced in February and April that drink vendors in public markets are required to register the source of their ingredients and that food product sellers should appoint and clearly identify hygiene management personnel. Good Hygiene Practice (GHP) inspections have also been carry out at the new markets on a priority basis. To date, health inspections at Nanmen Temporary, Dalong, Shidong and Huannan Temporary markets have been completed. The Old Place, New Appeal-Results Presentation Activity for Implementation of GHP at Traditional Markets was held to commend food vendors for their efforts in the area of food safety and hygiene and make the markets more modern and internationally competitive so that a more hygienic, cleaner and friendlier shopping environment is provided where people can shop without worry.
Taipei Mayor Wen-Je Ko said that if 30 minutes are used to learn about a city, the easiest way is to go to a traditional market because markets are microcosms of our lives, they are “everyday”. If Taipei is to become an internationally renowned city, its markets must be of an international standard, this means that the rebuilding of the city’s traditional markets is not just about facilities, upgrading of services and processes is the focus; food safety, separation of wet and dry foods, disposing of trash properly and cashless transactions must all be done effectively. Taipei once received a prize under the Program for Encouraging Local Governments to Implement the Five Elements of Food Safety Reform Policy and this prize continues to be used to promote food safety policies, therefore the results of execution of the five rings of food safety were on display onsite today; they included the Department of Health’s Five Elements of Food Safety, market identification of hygiene management personnel, ingredients registration and other food safety policies, the Department of Economic Development’s promotion of tracing of domestic farm produce, the Department of Education’s promotion of campus food safety and the Department of Environmental Protection’s advocacy of the four principles for chemical materials management, and other key policies. Good and still better is the objective so that citizens can feel the government’s efforts to build a worry-free environment for eating out.
The Department of Health director Shier-Chieg Huang stated that Food Safety Week has reached its fourth year and has always had the three main themes of the “Taipei City Self-Govering Regulations for Food Safety” of citizen participation, information transparency and worry-free eating out. As the markets were being rebuilt, the Department of Health successively carried out planning, guidance and inspection to effectively safeguard market food safety and ensure that all vendors implement GHP. This year, Nanmen Temporary Market has been chosen as the GHP demonstration point. After checking of the four aspects of food business registration, personnel hygiene, environmental hygiene and medium prevention, all the vendors passed GHP, signaling the upgrading of GHP throughout the market. To share this result, the public was invited to the Results Presentation Meeting for the Implementation of GHP at Traditional Markets to experience the improved food safety and hygiene of the market brought by GHP. Also, with the “Taipei City Self-Govering Regulations for Food Safety” as the basis, announcements have been made requiring that all food vendors in public markets appoint and identify hygiene management personnel to implement hygiene self-management and let GHP take deep root in markets so it is internalized to become part of the market contract.
The Department of Health further explained that to raise the level of GHP in traditional markets, in cooperation with the Taipei City Market Administration Office, from March 2020, GHP inspections have been carried out of 1,198 vendors at Nanmen Temporary, Dalong, Shidong and Huannan Temporary markets; all the vendors passed. The Vendor Food Hygiene and Labeling Self-management Inspection Form was also drawn up and the information announced in the food safety special area on the Department of Health website (Chinese) for convenient downloading by vendors. Promotion of compulsory registration of the source of ingredients by drinks vendors also continues.To date, 460 vendors in 22 markets have revealed information about 1,380 products and 2,760 ingredients. Onsite, the Looking for Good Hygiene (Taste) in the Market Adventure Activity was simultaneously held, inviting citizens into the market to experience a market with all-new transparent food safety information and to learn about Taipei’s food safety policies and food safety knowledge through the games provided by various vendors.
The aforementioned information can be obtained on the Department of Health website (Chinese). If people have questions about food safety and hygiene or food labelling, they can call the Taipei Citizens’ Hotline on 1999 (people outside Taipei should call 02-27208889) extension 7108.