Taiwan to Enact Strict Vegetarian Product Labeling

Earth Times.org reports that Taiwan will enact world's strictest law on veggie food labeling. Taiwan is to enact the world's strictest law on labeling vegetarian food at the request of Buddhists and people who eat vegetarian for health reasons, the health ministry said Monday. Starting from July 1, Taiwan food manufacturers must use five categories, up from the current two, to identify the content of vegetarian food. Violators will be fined from 40,000 to 200,000 Taiwan dollars (1,200-6,000 US dollars), the Department of Health said.

Link to the article in Earthtimes.

Note that for the first time, the category "pure vegetarian" means food without pungent plants. Currently the labelling only indicates whether food is pure vegetarian or contains no meat but egg and milk. Now added are categories separating egg and milk as well as vegan. Pure vegetarian refers to food which does not contain meat, egg, milk or plants including onion, garlic or leeks, which are spicy and considered unclean and bad for meditation. They are banned for strict Buddhist practitioners. Vegan, on the other hand, may contain the "unclean" vegetables.

Posted on : 2009-06-08

 

Comments

[realme]

it's about time. thank you for the info.
always grateful.

[mc]

I like the picture of the cows....they look so healthy and happy, and they have good colors.

[min]

Thanks for sharing this article. This is wonderful news for those of us that abstain from the pungent plants. When mentioning the effects of pungent plants, I will sound a little less crazy when I point out that there are actually labels, government mandated food labels identifying them in Taiwan.

[Alan]

i remember reading somewhere that in the past, there were manufacturers that soak mock meat into real meat juice in order to give it that 'meatly flavour'...hope when this ruling is fully enforced, consumers would then be trustworthy on Taiwanese Vege products...