• By Yang Cheng-yu, Lin Hsin-han and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer

The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Nutrition and Healthy Diet Promotion Act (營養及健康飲食促進法), authorizing the establishment of a nutritional value database and penalties for incorrect content labeling.

The act still needs to be signed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) before it is promulgated.

Taiwan needs to cut down on how much unhealthy food is sold and disseminate factually correct information on diet if the government’s duty to protect public health is to be fulfilled, lawmakers said in the bill’s statement of purpose.

Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times

Japan, South Korea, the US and other developed countries already have mechanisms to monitor the diet and nutrition of their citizens, teach good dietary habits and improve nutritional quality, they said.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said that the bill codifies the survey and database-building efforts that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has already achieved.

It requires health officials to consult with the broader community of health experts in setting diet policy, Wu said.

In addition, the law specifies that government agencies must establish a budget for promoting better diets, she said.

It stipulates that deliberately spreading erroneous information about food or diet via a public medium, including television, radio and the Internet, is punishable by fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 (US$959 to US$9,594), which can be repeated if there is failure to comply.

The bill stipulates that local health officials are to bar erroneous information about food or diet from being distributed on public media, including television, radio and the Internet.

The bill requires the ministry to institute a regular national diet survey, maintain a nutritional content database and publish comprehensive diet guidelines for different demographic groups.

The guidelines should be revised every five years and take dietary restrictions into account, including those stemming from religion or culture, it says.

The government is to deal with problems the surveys identify through public education to target unhealthy trends or by encouraging manufacturers to utilize nutritional additives, the bill says.

Health officials must address malnutrition among residents of remote regions in Taiwan who lack access to specific types of foods by providing subsidies and improving food supplies, it says.

The ministry and other agencies should promote nutritional knowledge among doctors, nurses, care workers, public health professionals and food industry technicians, it says.

Incentives should be established to encourage charities and other non-governmental groups that receive public funding to provide nutrition training to staff, it says.

Government agencies should ensure nutrition training is provided for their social welfare, child welfare, long-term care, healthcare and military personnel, it says.

Separately, lawmakers passed amendments to the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例) to enhance penalties for ticket scalping.

The amendments stipulate that selling tickets for sporting events above the price set by organizers is punishable by a fine of 10 to 50 times the face value of the tickets.

Scalpers who use forged credentials or other illicit means to buy tickets in bulk would face up to three years in prison, commutable by a fine of no more than NT$3 million, the amendments say.

Reasonable surcharges for group purchases of seating at events to cover overhead or mailing costs are exempt, they say.