Health chief says AIT protested ‘toxic pork’ allegations

Health chief says AIT protested ‘toxic pork’ allegations

2023-10-19

A new food scandal has erupted, after two importers were found to have labeled U.S. pork as Canadian. The opposition party is blasting the central government for, quote,“failing to ensure food safety.”But the government emphasizes that the mislabeled pork met safety standards for the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine. According to health minister Hsueh Jui-yuan, the U.S. has expressed dissatisfaction over the suggestion that American pork is unsafe.

Hsueh Jui-yuan
Health minister
Regarding that legally imported U.S. pork – it is indeed possible that the issue is being manipulated as a case of “ractopork” or “toxic pork” entering our borders. It could cause issues in bilateral trade. We have indeed been on the receiving end of protests from the AIT, which wondered how Taiwan could be like this.

The health chief says that penalties will be imposed on the importers. But he urges the public not to label U.S. pork as “unsafe,” saying this could bring allegations of “trade discrimination.” Foreign minister Joseph Wu says there may be political forces seeking to manipulate the mislabeled pork issue.

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在野黨暗指"美豬"有食安疑慮薛瑞元:AIT有抗議

2023-10-19

中央最近查獲有進口商不實標示美豬產地，儘管沒有驗出萊克多巴胺，但在野黨也趁機狂轟「政府不顧食安」，暗指美豬有食安疑慮，衛福部長薛瑞元受訪證實，美國在台協會AIT有「抗議」表達不滿。

[[衛福部長薛瑞元]]
“合法進來的美豬，有沒有被炒作成為說，什麼萊豬、毒豬，然後會造成貿易上面的一個障礙，這個的確是有可能，因為我們也有時候也會受到AIT方面，給我們的一些抗議啦，就是說為什麼台灣是這樣？”

外交部長吳釗燮也曾提及，要看看美豬議題背後是否有人在操弄。薛瑞元強調，有查獲標示不實的部分會進行處罰，但也希望社會不要把美豬貼上「不安全」的標籤，因為這會造起國際貿易上「歧視」的問題。

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President Tsai Ing-wen bestows a medal and a plaque. At the 12th ITRI Laureate Ceremony, the Industrial Technology Research Institute unveiled four honorees.

Tsai Ing-wen
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They are all in their 60s or 70s, so younger generations had better step up. Until our next generation can pick up the baton, I ask you to please hold on and stay in your posts.

President Tsai urged the laureates not to rush into retirement. They are Advantech Chair K.C. Liu, National Taiwan University Hospital Superintendent Wu Ming-shiang, Pegatron Chair Tung Tzu-hsien, and Peter Chen, the chair of Qisda. They were honored for their outstanding contributions in the biomedicine or ICT sectors.

K.C. Liu
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While the company’s own growth is an important matter, once the company is grown, it should also contribute its wisdom, knowledge, and resources to society and to other industries.

Lee Chih-kung
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The “sacred mountain that protects the nation” is our ICT industry. Moving forward, we hope to promote aging in place and LOHAS. The four laureates can make huge contributions to Taiwan in these fields.

In addition to honoring the laureates, ITRI held a special exhibition. It showcased more than 10 of its innovations that are aimed at building a better future.

Edwin Liu
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We at ITRI developed the 2035 Technology Strategy & Roadmap, which lays out our R&D direction for the coming decade or more. Today’s exhibition features our R&D achievements in the roadmap’s four domains, in addition to smart technologies.

ITRI celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. With the contributions of its laureates and its years of R&D accomplishments, ITRI aims to continue to drive Taiwan’s economic transformation, to help the nation’s industries shine bright on the global stage.

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Round-the-country hamburger truck picks up fans nationwide

A Pingtung hamburger chef is running a round-the-country burger truck, and picking up fans nationwide. The truck serves a famous 15-inch burger that’s enough to feed a whole family. It’s a regular visitor at Pingtung orphanages, where Chen Wei-chiang teaches kids how to make their own burgers. As the truck makes it way all round the country, he’s enjoying taking his time and enjoying the sights. He’s joined by his assistant, a former orphanage resident who is getting to travel while picking up job skills for life.

A super-thick 3-centimeter patty sizzles on the grill. Then lettuce, onion and tomato join it in a bread roll.

The truck serves up gigantic 15-inch jumbo-burgers with eight patties inside. Every day they give one of these giants away to a random lucky customer.

Chen Wei-chiang
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Actually, to be honest, I love to see the customer’s smiling face – it’s that simple. I think I spent a bit too long in Pingtung, and I wanted to see if I could get out of Pingtung and I thought I’d do a round-the-island trip.

Pingtung native Chen Wei-chiang started an American-style restaurant 13 years ago, and nine years ago began his round-the-island food truck. He often takes the truck to orphanages, and hopes his story can inspire other young people.

Chen Wei-chiang
Food cart owner
First I wanted to go to orphanages. And then I thought that making hamburgers is quite fun for them. You need to put in the work, and then you can get a delicious hamburger – that’s the attitude I want to give them.

Hsiao-chen
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My boss opened this cart, at the orphanage where I was living. And this year, I was introduced to come and work here by the mother of a teacher at the orphanage.

Chen teaches his employees to make hamburgers while widening their horizons. This year Chen closed his bricks-and-mortar restaurant, to have more time to dedicate to the round-the-island truck, and to get to know each stop on the journey properly.

Chen Wei-chiang
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People think you don’t need capital to start a food truck. Let me tell you: I’ve spent more on the truck than I did on the restaurant – at least twice as much. To set up at a pitch in Taipei, I think expenses of NT$1,000 are good – that’s still NT$30,000 over 30 days. That includes accommodation and transport costs.

Nevertheless, he persists, with his young assistants’ help, serving up one delectable burger after another, to customers who increasingly seek the truck out on its travels.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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2023-10-19

Nurses’ union makes 9 demands amid severe nursing shortage

Taiwan is facing an acute shortage of registered nurses. According to government data, job vacancy rates soared to their highest in a decade last year. Nurses say the problem is long hours and high-demand work environments made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve put forth nine demands to improve work conditions for rank-and-file health care staff.

Nurse managers from around Taiwan stand united, raising their voices in unison. They call for better working conditions for nurses.

Chi Shu-ching
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Actually we noticed the manpower shortage 11 years ago, but it wasn’t as serious at the time. Our situation today is because of the pandemic. For many nurses, the workload over the past three years of the pandemic has been absolutely overwhelming.

The nurse said that on any given day, the emergency room might see 50 to 70 patients. Due to understaffing in the patient wards, emergency room patients are forced to wait for a bed in the emergency room. This doubles the workload of emergency room staff, she said.

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We used to have enough staff but not enough beds. But now we have beds but no staff. In many hospitals today, what used to be a 60-bed observation area is now packed with 120 beds.

Nursing staff face long hours and a high-pressure work environment made worse by the pandemic. According to health ministry statistics, the turnover rate for nurses stood at 11.79% last year. The vacancy rate rose to 6.53%, the highest in 10 years.

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As for what nurses are most dissatisfied with, the first thing is the low salary, followed by raises that are too small, raises that come too slowly. There’s also the nurse-to-patient ratio, the manpower shortage, long hours, and the shift system.

The staffing shortage is largely due to the low salary, which nurses find disproportionate to the number of patients they must care for. The Taiwan Union of Nurses Association has made nine demands to improve work conditions for nurses. They include raising wages, stationing more male nurses at hospitals under the alternative military service program, and fast-tracking a law to standardize nurse-to-patient ratios for all three shifts nationwide.

Tsai Shu-feng
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That’s possible as long as we meet our goal, which is to reach a consensus on the nurse-to-patient ratios for the three shifts by the end of the year. Once that consensus is reached, we can start to promote the law next year.

Taiwan’s population is aging fast. By 2030, it will face a predicament, as caregiving needs spike and a generation of nurses retires. Already, hospitals are struggling to meet patient needs with their depleted, shrinking workforce. For policymakers, it’s clear that conditions for nurses must change, but fixing the problem will be a long and winding road.

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Today we take you to meet Michael Vincent Manalo, a Filipino artist based in Taiwan. He moved to Taiwan 10 years ago and has experimented with a wide range of art mediums and won several awards. He said his artistic journey was full of hardship, but he chose to persevere and hopes to encourage others to do the same. FTV reporter Stephany Yang caught up with Manalo at his latest exhibition to learn more about his career.

Michael Vincent Manalo explains his artwork series “Chasing Dreams.” This painting was inspired by his art residency in Poland. The painting utilizes augmented reality. After visitors download an app and swipe the QR code, the painting is presented on their mobile phone through animation or video.

Michael Vincent Manalo
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The AR video represents like sometimes we have these kind of moments where we are not so sure about ourselves. Like we are not so sure if the path that we took is correct or not. The video I showed earlier is kind of showing that doubt or anxiety or sometimes like those moments when we think that or feel like you are lost. I used the same painting and just animated it. So, I just made the camera move back and then put like two images together to make it more like a kaleidoscope. Like viewing, looking through your soul through yourself.

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Most of my work is about memory and nostalgia. So, I always look back at where I came from. There was a time a few years ago when I was living in Taichung, somewhere in Jinshui. It is near the beach. I always ride my bike or my the scooter near the beach. For me at that time, it was just an ordinary moment, a normal moment, but when I look back at it now. I feel like that was like a golden time. For chasing dreams, for me, everybody has their own dream but then some people give up on it because I think there are so many factors that is why they give up. I still believe that why would you give up on your dream? You only have one life. If you get to the age of being old and you are on your deathbed, you will probably regret not at least trying to chase your dream. So for me, just try because I was there before. I wanted to chase my dream but it wasn’t always so smooth. But then, at least I tried.

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For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
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Doctor Frank Dennis urges medics from Taiwan to consider service abroad

An American doctor who founded Taitung’s first hospital is urging medics from Taiwan to consider service abroad. Frank Dennis founded Taitung Christian Hospital in 1969, after coming to Taiwan in 1961. He dedicated himself particularly to surgery and to serving rural communities in Taitung. The doctor’s contributions to reducing the harm of polio were particularly outstanding. Now, the nonagenarian wants to inspire other medical professionals to also go abroad and support others who may be in need of medical expertise.

Frank Dennis
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I am a general practitioner of medicine. What I loved the most is when a child had been delivered and I got to place it onto its mother’s belly.

The founding superintendent of Taitung Christian Hospital, Frank Dennis, widely known as Father Dennis, is now 95. In 1961, he and his family moved to Taiwan and Dennis began working in surgery at Pingtung Christian Hospital. In 1965, they moved to Taitung where he opened “Baosang Clinic” in Taitung City.

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Once, it was Lunar New Year, and a patient came to me with a very serious illness, which was jaundice. He had a liver pustule, a lot of belly pain, weak breathing. He obviously needed surgery. The doctors weren’t willing to do it, so I said, “Okay, then I’ll do it.”

That event inspired Dennis to have a new prayer: for a hospital in Taitung. In 1969, Taitung Christian Hospital was built. It was, at the time, cutting-edge. Over 33 years of practice, Dennis was dedicated to medicine in Taitung’s rural villages. In the ’60s, polio was common. In two years, Dennis operated on almost 300 children who had caught the disease. Only in 1994, when he contracted arthritis in both wrists and could no longer perform surgery, did he announce his retirement. Still hale and hearty, he often challenges his son to a game of ping pong. His greatest joys in life are diving and Taiwanese snacks, but above all, his belief in serving all people.

Frank Dennis
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I hope that Taiwanese doctors and nurses will go abroad and help in places that are lagging, no matter what the possibilities are, using every means to go and help.

Dennis once took his family to the other side of the world, in his quest to spread medical expertise. Now he wants to inspire others to take up that spirit of service and go wherever they are needed.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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