January 4, 2010

Taiwan FDA becomes operational

Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which streamlines four bureaus under the cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) into one, became officially operational on January 1.

The FDA integrates the functions of the Bureau of Food Sanitation, the Bureau of Pharmaceutical Affairs, the National Laboratories of Foods and Drugs, and the National Bureau of Controlled Drugs and it will have a staff of 505 people.

Of the 505 staff, around 100 will be newly recruited to exclusively perform food safety checks at points of entry into the country, in response to the rising demand for inspectors as a result of closer exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.

The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs is currently responsible for the function and will continue to do so until 2011, when the 100-member food safety inspection team becomes operational, said Kang Jaw-jou, the FDA's first director-general.