Food

German Trade Office Oktoberfest 2020 kicks off in Taipei

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/25/2020
By: Emerson Lim

German Trade Office Chief Representative and Executive Director Axel Limberg (left) and German Institute Taipei Director-General Thomas Prinz.

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) The two-day Oktoberfest celebration kicked off in Taipei on Friday, giving German companies and their business partners a rare chance to rub elbows at a time when social gatherings are temporarily banned in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual German Trade Office (GTO) Oktoberfest is in its fifth year after the inaugural event in 2016.

The opening night was attended by around 100 guests, including German expatriates, officials from Taiwan's Foreign Ministry and business people.

Axel Limberg, chief representative and executive director of the GTO, told CNA that the Oktoberfest is a signature networking event for German companies in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Ramen pizza? Crazy mashup revealed by Pizza Hut Taiwan

CNN
Date: 26th June 2020
By: Maggie Hiufu Wong, CNN

(CNN) — You may need chopsticks for this pizza.

Pizza Hut Taiwan has teamed up with Menya Musashi, a popular ramen joint from Japan, to dish out the world's first ramen pizza.

The new pizza has the toppings of a Tonkotsu ramen (pork bone soup ramen) including thick ramen noodles, pork slices, white sesame, fresh chili, and a half-boiled egg in the middle.

Spring onions and bamboo shoots are served on the side.

It isn't the first boundary-pushing gimmick from Pizza Hut Taiwan.

It's the team behind some of the previous wild pizza mashups including durian pizza, bubble tea pizza and stinky tofu pizza.    [FULL  STORY]

WATCH: Taiwan Insider, Dec 26, 2019

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 26 December, 2019
By: Paula Chao
 

Taiwan Insider is counting down the new year with a collection of our favorite stories from 2019! Our inaugural year was jam-packed full of stories that made us want to smile, sing, dance, or even cry. Which was your favorite? Join for this special look at the year that was 2019!    [FULL  STORY]

 

Taipei to require ramen chains to reveal ingredients

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it soon plans to require all ramen stores with two or more shops in the city to register their ingredients to ensure food safety and disclose information about food products to the public.

Established in 2013, the city’s food ingredient registration Web site — Food Tracer Taipei — contains results from the health department’s food inspections, as well as data posted by stores and restaurants about the ingredients that they use.

There were 10 major categories of food establishments that need to register ingredients — including chain beverage and iced dessert stores, chain coffee shops, fast food restaurants and chain breakfast shops — and the health department announced that it has opened two new categories: chain Japanese ramen stores and traditional markets.

Fourteen Japanese ramen brands have already registered 95 types of products on the platform, including 682 ingredients, department section head Chen Yi-ting (陳怡婷) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Jello mooncakes and more innovations cater to special groups

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 10 September, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Jello mooncakes

Jello mooncakes[/caption] Taiwan celebrates the Moon Festival on Friday. Mooncakes are one of the specialties enjoyed during this holiday. This year, Taiwan has come out with innovative jello mooncakes for the elderly and other creative innovations on the traditional cake.  

These jello mooncakes are perfect for the elderly who have trouble biting solid food. Mr. Lee enjoyed his and says it melts in your mouth.

Traditional mooncakes are harder to bite into and can stick to your teeth.  Kaohsiung’s Siaogang hospital made the jello mooncakes with freshly made dragon fruit juice. They mixed in rice, sugar and gelatin and poured the mix into molds to create these refreshing jello mooncakes.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to require food safety permits for imported eggs

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/20
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Emerson Lim

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Imported eggs and egg-based products will not be allowed to enter

Image for illustrative purposes only / Image taken from Pixabay

Taiwan without food safety certifications beginning in August amid a fipronil scare in Europe and Asia, a food safety official said Monday.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) senior specialist Tung Ching-hsin (董靜馨) said eggs and egg products need to be highly regulated because of the risk of contamination during processing, which is why the official food safety permits are needed.

The requirement for a permit from the exporting country will cover fresh eggs, whole egg liquid, liquid egg whites, liquid egg yolks, whole egg powder and yolk powder and take effect on Aug. 1.

The FDA has conducted systematic inspections of imported eggs since the beginning of the year, Tung said.    [FULL  STORY]

Muslim in Taiwan: Best places to chow down

From enjoying wagyu to a scrumptious risotto dinner, we’ve listed our top 7 eateries for the Muslim traveller in Taipei

The Scoop
Date: 30, 2019
By: Rafidah Hamit

TAIPEI – Taiwan is known for its amazing hospitality — the people are friendly and it is well-equipped with excellent amenities too.

Over the years, the modern city has seen an increase in Muslim tourists and currently has a Muslim population of 300,000.

To accommodate more Muslim travelers to visit, Taiwan has started to provide  facilities such as musollah (prayer rooms), and in 2017 established the Taiwan Halal Centre to help businesses attain halal certification.

The Scoop recently explored various parts of Taiwan to experience the island’s charm, Muslim-friendly tourist options and the large number of halal eateries.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan bans online sale of China meat products amid swine fever fears

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/15
By: Huang Li-yun and Flor Wang

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) The Taiwan government has asked all e-commerce enterprises

CNA file photo

in the country to remove Chinese meat products from their websites, as part of an effort to prevent the spread of African swine fever (ASF) from China to Taiwan, Deputy Minister of the Council of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said Thursday.

“The Council of Agriculture (COA) has notified all e-commerce platforms, including PC Home, Yahoo and Shopee, of the ban,” Chen said at a weekly Cabinet meeting, calling for cooperation between the government and private sector.

In response, Shopee said it has removed more than 2,000 Chinese meat products from its website and has announced the ban on all its e-commerce platforms.

Meanwhile, Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) chief Hwung Hwung-hweng (黃煌煇) said in a legislative hearing earlier Thursday that he will resign if the ASF virus enters Taiwan via smuggled products coming in by sea.    [FULL  STORY]

ASF virus found in Chinese meat product: COA

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/31
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Flor Wang 

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Amid government efforts to keep African Swine Fever (ASF) at bay, the Council of Agriculture (COA) announced Wednesday that a Chinese meat product brought by passengers into Taiwan has been detected to contain the deadly virus.

“The Animal Health Research Institute discovered the ASF virus today in a meat product brought by passengers from China to Kinmen,” COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) told a news conference.

The tainted product, Chinese crispy sausage, was sent to the institute for examination after being collected by institute officers Oct. 25 from a garbage container at Shuitou Port in offshore Kinmen County, apparently having been discarded by passengers coming from China’s Fujian Province via the ferry services between the two destinations, Huang explained.

According to Huang, the sausage was made by Shuanghai — the largest processed food maker in China. Shuanghui’s meat products have been repeatedly found to contain the ASF virus since the outbreak of the disease in China first surfaced Aug. 3, he noted.
[FULL  STORY]

Whitebait a good source of calcium… and cholesterol

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-09-17

Tiny white fish – known as whitebait – are commonly eaten in Taiwan. It’s a delicacy consisting of immature fish from a number of different species, including anchovies and sardines. But while people often eat them for their health benefits, health experts are sounding the alarm.

These tiny “whitebait” are often served up in soups and porridges in Taiwan. They not only add flavor to the dish, they are also a good source of calcium.

But health experts are warning that there are health concerns, too. That’s because they are consumed whole, which means you ingest the intestines and fat, and a surprising amount of cholesterol for such a tiny fish.    [FULL  STORY]