By: Clover Chang, U.S. Grains Council Director in Taiwan

The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) recently hosted a workshop in Taiwan discussing the topic of genetically modified (GM) food with school teachers and dieticians.

The Council worked with the Food Industry Research and Development Institute (FIRDI), the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and CropLife Taiwan to conduct this workshop, with topics ranging from the future of GM animals to the testing and monitoring of GM commodities and the challenges and opportunities related to cultivation of more GM plants.

Although Taiwan is a longtime, stable U.S. trade partner, its Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) is facing pressure from some legislators and activists to revise regulations related to the labeling of GM foods. Because of this, the 5 percent threshold level for the labeling of GM foods was revised to 3 percent and will likely be changed again to 0.9 percent.

With about 80 dieticians and school teachers in attendance, this workshop provided accurate and timely information about biotechnology and GM foods to a critical audience in charge of designing school lunch recipes.

This group heard from researchers from the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute, the Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Academia Sinica, all based in Taiwan.

The Council will host another workshop at GIS NTU Convention Center in Taipei City on Sept. 27 to continue to build a partnership with end-users in Taiwan