Source control of school lunch materials is essential	School children must eat safe organic vegetables

[New Taipei City News] Source control of school lunch materials is one of the most concerning issues for students and parents. New Taipei City Organic School Lunches Policy builds a stable sales channel for the organic industry. It progresses routine source sampling inspection to guarantee that schoolchildren can eat safe organic vegetables. New Taipei City Government has recently conducted organic field sampling inspections in farms and places of origin, and the inspection reports are all qualified.

New Taipei City Government conducts sampling inspections on vegetables of organic school lunches. The Agriculture Department and Department of Health of the New Taipei City Government and New Taipei City Fruit & Vegetable Marketing Co., Ltd. went to Taoyuan City, one of the original school lunch materials, to conduct sampling inspections this February 25. A total of 6 farm fields have no pesticide residues detected in vegetables (ND), which meets the standards of organic verification, ensuring that school children in this city can eat safely. This process also assists organic farmers who supply school lunches in New Taipei City to reconfirm that their organic farm fields have no contamination by neighboring areas or other factors.

The Agriculture Department stated that besides conducting sampling inspections several times a year of where nutritious lunches are served, such as Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Yunlin, Chiayi, and Kaohsiung, they would also irregularly go to two contracted organic vegetable cutting factories o test on the organic vegetables that farmers are transporting and collecting for cutting. If pesticide residues are detected, New Taipei City Fruit & Vegetable Marketing Co., Ltd. shall be notified immediately to suspend the supply of the violated vegetables, and the case shall be transferred to local city governments where the farmer is located according to law. The Agriculture and Food Agency and the certification agency under which the farmer belongs shall be informed for subsequent organic verification audit and judgment. Under strict requirements, 175 pieces of organic vegetables for school lunch in 2018 were all qualified in the sampling inspection, and there is no unqualified case.

New Taipei City Government held the “IFOAM Asia Organic Youth Forum” under the theme of “Access to Markets: A Road to Sustainability.” The event includes three days of organic agriculture workshops (March 26-28), an international conference (March 29), and two days of field trips to organic industries and organizations (March 30-31). For more information, please get in touch with the New Taipei City Office of Organic Youth Forum at (02)2964-7950 or check the Green Lohas Mall Facebook fan pagelink。
Agriculture Department, New Taipei City Government Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Management Section Li-Chen Chang / Chief Tel: 2960-3456 * 2980