To meet the requirements of documentary proof, those engaging in the export of processed foods may apply to the competent authority for an inspection and examination. Those that comply with the regulations would be approved with the issuance of an export proof document such as sanitary certificate, test report or certificate of free sales and manufacture. Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) provides the services to apply for aforementioned documents for processed foods that are manufactured in Taiwan. In order to avoid potential delays, and speed up the certification process, TFDA promotes two ways to reduce the processing time of export proof document applications for domestic processed food manufacturers.

Firstly, TFDA provides online “Export Certificate Application Process System” to be used to address requests for different types of export proof documents for processed foods and will prompt respondents to provide the facility and product information necessary for TFDA to review and process such requests. Food manufacturers can use this system to apply sanitary certificate, test report, manufactured sanitary certificate and certificate of free sales and manufacture online, that not only helps to improve work efficiency but also detects input errors in time. The application of certificate of free sales and manufacture is comprehensive online on March 1 2018.

Secondly, Inspection will be conducted by competent authority to attest that the food product complies with standards and requirements for issuing the sanitary certificate. In Taiwan, certain food manufacturers (e.g. Canned foods manufacturers) are requested to follow the regulations of secondary verification, which includes Good Hygienic Practice (GHP) for food and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and confirmed by a certification body. For sanitary certificate application from these food manufacturers, inspection could be omitted because they have been inspected regularly under secondary verification. This could decline the fee of request application and speed up the working time of reviewing process to 10 days.

Through the new approaches mentioned above, application for an export proof document could be more convenient and less cost. TFDA encourages food manufacturers to apply export proof documents by these ways. TFDA offers a free service number 0800-676-668 that could provide more free consultations, if there are additional questions for application process.