Eighty-seven students from Chengyuen High School in Taipei City, Central China, began to develop diarrhea and other symptoms after eating meals from the hot food department on campus at noon on the 8th. The Health Bureau found five hygiene deficiencies during an inspection and ordered the business to close that day. Taipei City Councilor Jian Shupei pointed out that the catering provided by the manufacturer spans 12 schools, involving 9 schools, and the total number of students involved exceeds 15,000. The city government should immediately stop the catering of all campus meals by this manufacturer, and investigate the ingredients and sources, previous audit records, and the results of this cross-school simultaneous inspection and suspension assessment.
Jian Shupei pointed out that relevant samples are still being tested and whether it constitutes food poisoning has yet to be confirmed. However, the presence of so many sanitary loopholes in the kitchen has severely undermined the "high-standard food safety defense line" that the city government has repeatedly claimed. The Liandazhuang Enterprise Co., Ltd. that suffered this incident did not only provide meals at Chengyuan High School, but spanned 12 catering schools, involving 9 schools, and the total number of students involved exceeded 15,000. However, the city government only announced that the hot food department of Sungyeon High School had stopped serving meals and requested the termination of the contract. It did not proactively announce the complete list of schools operated by the same manufacturer, nor did it explain whether other locations would be inspected simultaneously and whether a preventive suspension of supply was needed.
Jian Shupei raised five questions: 1. Are there simultaneous inspections of the kitchens of the same manufacturer in other campuses? 2. Are the ingredients, suppliers, purchase batches and cold chain systems used by each school the same? 3. Are related meals handled by the same set of personnel, equipment or supply chain? 4. Before it was confirmed that there were no common risks, why were the necessary preventive measures not taken to stop supply? 5. Why not publish all the company’s catering schools, contracts and audit records at once?
She pointed out that free nutritious lunches were originally a good policy to reduce the burden on parents. However, in order to fulfill his political slogan and rush to publicize his political achievements, Jiang Wanan only announced it at the beginning of the year and hurriedly launched it in September. Before the start of the school year, a large number of schools had not even completed the bidding. The city government wrote beautiful specifications and held a lively press conference, but when something really happened, it only stopped at one place and checked one place, and other meal centers continued to cover up! Being free does not mean that safety standards can be lowered; when the policy is implemented, we cannot just ask for "food to eat", regardless of whether the children are eating safely or not.
She believes that the city government should immediately stop catering on all campuses in Liandazhuang and investigate the ingredients and sources provided by the manufacturers, previous audit records, and the results of this cross-school simultaneous inspection and suspension assessment. Relevant inspection results must also be made public as soon as possible. We cannot wait for the limelight to pass before passing all the responsibility to schools and manufacturers.
