Several real problems with food in Taiwan

Source: Taipei Times: Nicky Loh Reuters

The Taipei Times reports that several thousand demonstrators marched to the President's office yesterday to protest the lifting of the ban on the import of American beef products. Never mind that no one has ever contracted mad cow disease from American beef, or that the protests have been organized by Taiwan cattle breeders who stand to gain economically from the ban, or that the opposition DPP has whipped the public into a frenzy over the issue simply to attack the government.

Don't get me wrong, I love the inflatable triple-coiler turd. But if people in Taiwan are looking for things to protest, here is a list of food related issues they should be more concerned about than U.S. beef.

1.
9000 ducks were recently destroyed on a farm near Kaohsiung located on an illegal slag dump. All of the birds on the farm were contaminated with high levels of doixins and heavy metals. Ducks from this farm have likely been sold to consumers since 2006. Environmentalists point out that many more contaminated sites exist in the country and that the farm was only discovered by chance.

2.
Over 50% of processed food for vegetarians sold in markets in Taiwan contains meat

3.
Oysters farmed in Taiwan are known to have high levels of Arsenic and PCBs. Contamination is likely to increase with the planned construction of a massive industrial park near oyster producing regions. They are also known to be heavily contaminated with the vibrio vulnificus virus due to sewage pollution leading to wide-spread outbreaks of food poisoning. These oysters continue to be served raw throughout the country.

4.
Tainted Dog Food Kills hundreds of dogs in Taiwan


5.
High levels of Dioxins found in Fish Farms in Taiwan


6.
Contaminated food products entering Taiwan from China

7.
Contaminated corn and corn based feeds prevalent in Taiwan