On July 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a press conference on the formation of the Food and Drug Inspection Task Force to announce its determination to eliminate food fraud and tackle illegal drugs. This task force is expected to efficiently enhance the inspection capacity and comprehensively strengthen coordinated inspections through the central-local government cooperation mechanism. The task force simultaneously visited factories, hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores along with local public health bureaus, after the press conference ended at 10 a.m., to inspect the labels on the packaging of dairy products, fruit and vegetable juice, and rice vermicelli. A total of 271 inspectors from the FDA and local public health bureaus were dispatched, and 6,085 products were inspected. The inspection results are as follows: 

1. Packaged beverage products claiming to be fruit and vegetable juice on the market: 216 businesses and 2,715 products were inspected, and one disqualified product was found. The Chiayi City Public Health Bureau discovered that the label of vision-improving fruit for BIOES Organic 100% Natural Wild Blueberry Punch is exaggerated and could easily lead to misunderstandings. This case has been forwarded to the Department of Health of Taipei City Government (see the attachment for the image of the product). 

2. Fresh milk, UHT milk, flavored milk, milk drinks, and milk powder products: 223 businesses and 2,080 products were inspected, and no disqualified products were found. 

3. Packaged rice vermicelli products on the market: 96 businesses and 1,290 products were inspected, and no disqualified products were found. 
The FDA reminds consumers to pay more attention to product names on the external packaging and labels that show the percentage of main ingredients when purchasing dairy products, fruit and vegetable juice, rice vermicelli, and other packaged food products, in order to purchase goods that meet their needs. As the new regulations for the labels on the packaging of dairy products, fruit and vegetable juice, and rice vermicelli took effect on July 1, 2014, the proportion of milk in flavored milk and milk drinks must be at least 50% of all ingredients, and the percentage of milk powder contained in modified milk powder products must be labeled. Products containing 10% or more fruit and vegetable juice should have the content of pure juice exactly indicated. Products containing less than 10% fruit and vegetable juice must not be labeled as fruit and vegetable juice, and a label that states “contain less than 10% fruit and vegetable juice” or that indicates the content of pure juice should be attached to the external packaging. Products that do not contain fruit and vegetable juice can only carry such names as OO flavor or phrases with similar meanings. Only products made entirely from rice can be labeled as pure rice vermicelli or rice vermicelli. Products containing 50% or more rice should be labeled as mixed rice vermicelli. If any products (manufactured after July 1) are found to fail to conform to the abovementioned labeling regulations, they are to be deemed as breaches of Article 22 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and a fine between NT$30,000 and NT$3,000,000 will be imposed in accordance with Article 47 of the same act. If any labels are false, exaggerated or misleading, or are against the provisions of Article 28 of the Act, a fine between NT$40,000 and NT$4,000,000 will be imposed in accordance with Paragraph 1, Article 45 of the same act. Products violating the Act shall be recalled and violations corrected within a specified time limit pursuant to Article 52 of the Act. Such products must not continue to be sold before violations are corrected. If the recall and corrections are not completed within the time limit, the products will be confiscated and destroyed. The above information can be found on the Food and Drug Consumer Knowledge Service Network (https://consumer.fda.gov.tw/).