Vegetarian food mixed with meat! Amitabha accidentally stepped on a landmine and broke his precepts

There are about 2 million vegetarians in the country, and vegetarian culture seems to be gradually gaining popularity among the public. The New Taipei City Health Bureau sampled vegetarian products on the market on the 18th and found that 2 of them did not comply with regulations, 1 was mixed with meat, and 1 was falsely labeled. The business has been ordered to remove the products from the shelves and investigate and deal with them in accordance with the law.

The New Taipei City Health Bureau sampled vegetarian products on the market on the 18th and found that two items did not comply with regulations. (Photo courtesy of New Taipei City Health Bureau)

Wang Shufen, chief of the Food and Drug Administration Section of the Health Bureau, said that the Department of Health is comprehensively promoting labeling of vegetarian packaged foods. In the future, such foods will be labeled with five labels such as vegan and lacto-vegetarian on the outside, depending on whether they contain milk, eggs, onions, garlic and other ingredients. This will allow vegetarian consumers to clearly distinguish when purchasing and avoid accidental ingestion or breaking the rules.

The New Taipei City Health Bureau sampled 20 commercially available vegetarian products and found two unqualified products. One vegetarian shrimp ball was found to contain fish ingredients, which means it was mixed with meat. In addition to ordering businesses to immediately remove products from shelves, the Health Bureau will impose a fine of not less than NT$60,000 but not more than NT$6 million on manufacturers for violating Article 11, Paragraph 1, Item 7, "Adulteration or counterfeiting," and Article 31 of the Food Sanitation Management Act.

Another piece of fried chicken steak was labeled "lacto-vegetarian" on the outside, but the Health Bureau found trace amounts of beef and chicken ingredients. It is speculated that this may be due to the addition of milk and eggs. The suspected false labeling has been transferred to the Taoyuan County Health Bureau, where the product was manufactured, for investigation. The violation of Articles 19 and 32 of the Food Sanitation Management Act may result in a fine of not less than NT$40,000 and not more than NT$200,000.

Section Chief Wang Shufen stressed that all packaged foods claiming to be vegetarian should be labeled with words such as "vegetarian or vegan", "egg vegetarian", "lacto vegetarian", "lacto-ovo vegetarian" and "plant five pungent elements". As it is difficult to tell whether vegetarian food is mixed with meat from its appearance, operators should uphold professional ethics and clearly label ingredients containing animal ingredients to avoid infringing on the rights of vegetarians. The public is also urged to choose manufacturers with good reputation when purchasing to ensure the quality and safety of food.