November 25, 2015
Taiwan: No importation of GE salmon
Taiwanese food and drug authorities said it cannot yet grant authorization for the importation of genetically engineered salmon from the US as it lacks the proper "procedure" to assess such food product.
Chou Pei-ju, an official of the Taiwanese Food and Drug Aministration, said that Taiwan at present has no inspection procedure for GE salmon, and thus such fish cannot be imported into Taiwan.
Chou was reacting to an earlier announcement from the US FDA that it had made its first approval for a GE food animal, an Atlantic salmon raised by an American aquaculture company.
Chou did not rule out the possibility of the GE salmon, which is raised by the Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, being imported into Taiwan in the future.
When such time comes, she said the GE salmon would be subjected to food safety assessment. Only after passing the test can GE salmon importers obtain licenses.
She added that the imported salmons should be labelled as "genetically modified" to inform the consumers.
Under Taiwan regulations, labelling for all packaged foods, food additives, and bulk foods containing GM ingredients is required, she said.