Helping Aspiring Bakers to Uphold High Food Safety Standards

One case involved the discovery of industrial plasticizers in a range of processed food and drink products. This led to hundreds of Taiwanese products being recalled in China, including the local Taiwanese market and Hong Kong; South Korea and the Philippines. In another case, hundreds of tons of mooncakes – pastries filled with red bean or lotus seed paste that are traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival – and other bakery items were also recalled in Taiwan, China; Hong Kong, China; and Singapore after being found to contain oils unfit for human consumption. In response to such incidents, the Taiwanese government has tightened food safety standards.

SGS in Taiwan offers a range of food safety consultancy and training services covering issues such as hygiene and allergen awareness. We test food products, catering facilities and equipment to determine the presence of toxic additives and contaminants such as melamine, cyanuric acid, phthalate plasticizers and pesticide residues. We also perform allergen identification and ensure that allergens are correctly labeled.

Alongside our professional services, SGS in Taiwan’s Food Services team supports the work of the Eden Social Welfare Foundation and Down Syndrome Foundation Taiwan, in China, which provide vocational training, employment opportunities, long-term care and rehabilitation to persons with disabilities and socially marginalized groups. SGS supports both organizations by offering free food safety advice and providing vocational training for the bakery industry.

Our training covers good hygiene practices, the management of allergen risks, food safety regulations and food safety rules for food workers. It also covers the manufacturing environment, highlighting the importance of using personal protective equipment and ensuring that visitors, suppliers and contractors have effective processes in place to control food safety.

All training includes comprehension testing to ensure that participants have understood the content and are able to practice good hygiene and food safety management within the manufacturing environment.

In 2019, we launched four risk management training courses for the bakery industry. More than 100 management level and production line employees participated in training that covered areas of management and processing risk control, such as labeling checks, regulations, raw materials, processing, packaging and final products.