Taiwan to Strengthen the Management of Imported Organic Food

On 22 Dec., TFDA indicated that the imported food labeled as “organic” for border inspection without the approval of Council of Agriculture will be viewed as violating Article 28 of Act Governing Food Sanitation. Meanwhile, according to Regulations of Inspection of Imported Foods and Related Products, the labeling should be corrected if it does not conform to the regulation. The products can only be put on sale with the approval document of “Council of Agriculture”.

According to Article 28 of Act Governing Food Sanitation, food, food additives, detergents used in food, food utensils, food containers or packaging recognized by central competent authority should not be labeled, publicized or advertised with false, exaggerative or misleading information. According to Article 6 of Agricultural Production and Certification Act, imported agricultural products and their processed products should be certified by certification bodies that are accredited by the national or international organic accreditation institutes/organizations recognized by the central competent authority, and should be reviewed by the central competent authority before they can be sold under the term of “organic”. TFDA pointed out that the products without the approval document of “Council of Agriculture” after being cleared by the customs should not be declared or labeled as “organic”, and the labeling should be corrected by law. In order to decrease the warehouse charge for the products remaining in port, it should firstly apply for customs clearance by law, but the products will not be put on sale for the time being. In this way, the products will not be held up in customs.

In the previous procedure, it generally applies for permission after customs clearance for the importation of organic food. The changed procedure by TFDA this time is estimated to have great impact on relevant traders.