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EDITORIAL: Scare
rooted in consumer demand
The food additive scare gripping the nation has continued to escalate, involving
an ever-expanding list of affected products, from health drinks to sweeteners
and fruit jelly products through to health foods and even medicines. People are
now genuinely concerned about the issue of food safety, not knowing what type of
foods they can actually rely on to be safe to eat.
We¡¦ve had food safety scares before, but now that the details are coming to
light, a growing number of food products have been found to contain banned
additives, and in some cases even the manufacturers were clueless about what
they were putting in their products. They had never tested whether the additives
were safe, nor had the government investigated them. Neither did consumers
question why the fruit juice they were buying in stores was so much more
fragrant, so much sweeter, so much more brightly colored than the fresh juice
they pressed themselves at home. If it hadn¡¦t been for one researcher taking it
upon herself to do one more test, the whole nation would still be tucking into
foods that could well be harmful to their health, without the slightest clue of
the risks.
Who knows whether the food producers were already aware of the health risks
posed by the chemicals they were using as clouding agents? It might be that they
were simply following a formula passed down in the company over several decades,
or they might have been using the additive in the full knowledge of the
potential health risks, trying to cut costs and boost their profits. Regardless,
from now on the regulations on food additives have to be made clearer and the
fines for non-compliance need to be heavier.
Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, one of the substances in question, has been
used in the food we buy for decades now. Over that time, it has been used in an
ever-increasing range of food and drinks. You could say it is a bit of a trade
secret. This means that the government agency responsible for monitoring food in
this country has not been doing its duty. Virtually everyone in this country, to
a greater or lesser extent, has consumed products containing DEHP. Even Premier
Wu Den-yih (§d´°¸q) has admitted that he has drunk beverages containing DEHP,
making him another victim of the government¡¦s dereliction of duty as far as food
safety is concerned.
The Department of Health has launched an initiative it calls ¡§D-Day¡¨ to check
for foods containing DEHP. This doesn¡¦t go far enough. It¡¦s shutting the stable
door after the horse has bolted. What the public really wants is for the
government to be more proactive in checking whether food products contain
harmful additives. It is supposed to be there to protect the public, after all.
However, there is another side to this. Consumers might want to reflect on how
their own demands for fresh, tasty, aromatic foods at low prices might be
pushing companies to abandon natural ingredients in favor of artificial
additives to keep costs down. How can one expect to eat healthily while
continuously demanding food at budget prices?
If consumers are more reasonable in their expectations and drink mineral or
boiled water instead of sugary refined drinks, we will have far fewer
weight-related diseases. If they stop demanding day-glo dinners, producers will
hold back on the food coloring. If they no longer expect gourmet meals right
from the packet, producers will no longer feel the need to drown their products
in seasoning.
If we curb our expectations and learn to appreciate more natural foods, it will
be better for everyone¡¦s health.
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