Today began with a tour of some of the Research and Analysis Laboratories of the Taiwanese Food and Drug Administration. We began with an introduction to the TFDA and a question-and-answer session about the way things are run there. They base their system primarily off of the US FDA and have many of the same concerns regarding food safety, testing procedures, food analysis and trace-ability. Some of the things that struck me as very different are the concerns over allergens and labeling issues, and the emphasis on foreign imports regulation and testing. Allergens are not something that are tested for and are not required to be declared in a food. This also makes sense because it seems that they do not have any labeling requirements for food products. (I will apologize in advance if I misunderstood anything that was said. I don't have time to verify my information at the moment either!) There is a high emphasis on testing for the presence of GMOs, heavy metals, and chemical residues in food that is produced and imported into Taiwan (as opposed to the microbial concern that is a focus in the U.S.) Foreign imports are especially important, as almost 17% of the food consumed comes from outside of Taipei. (Taiwan has 23 million people in a landmass that is less than 1400 square miles.) The primary import is agricultural crops and the highest percentage comes from the United States.
Tonight we were hosted by last year's Food Science Club officers. It has taken nearly 3 days to better form an understanding of how their club is set up. First, admission to the University is not done the same way as in the United States. You must take a test in your senior year of high school that helps to decide where you are allowed to go to school. (It seems much more serious than the SAT.) From there it sounds like the testing scores also play a roll in what major you can choose, but I am still a bit confused as to how that works. The club is something that you must join as an incoming freshman food science student. It costs $4000NT for 4 years (to get to US dollars divide by 29 or 30, depending on the exchange rate) and seems a bit more like a student union than what we think of as a club. Third year students are the officers in the club and are elected in a similar manner as at OSU, self-nomination and election-style. They make and sell soft-serve ice cream, waffles, and jam at specific points during the year but because of University regulations they must use mixes, and are only allowed to sell one time throughout the year. This is very different from the emphasis that the OSU Food and Fermentation Science Club paces on the learning opportunities that we gain by getting together and preparing food. We also get around the issue of selling food by making it more about the production experience than the final product. FJU students were very surprised that we make cheese, sausage, and especially beer (though I know a few clubs in the US that would also love to be able to do that as well).
The most fascinating thing is how integrated culture and performance is with the club. They are in charge of the new student welcome celebration, freshman camp, graduation party, and other events like a Halloween party. Each event is accompanied by a form of entertainment (or two or three) such as music, dance, acting, or other performance. For example, we were treated tonight to a baton routine, a fire-rope spinning routine, a traditional Chinese flute solo, and some spontaneous dancing. This is all something that they work on as a group and is integral to the club. They participate in athletics, hold a Food Science singing competition as a form of fundraising, and do various other events throughout the year that are not focused on food. We had been asked to share a talent that we had as a group to the students and after much deliberation we chose to sing. Marlin played a borrowed guitar and we sang Hotel California (a very popular song here) as well as a few others. It was a very eye-opening experience and we had a great time sharing stories and trading differences about cultures. It was by far the most relaxed that we had been with the students since we arrived.
(Have you ever tried to explain how big the United States is? We started using Taiwan as a size comparison. Tim is from Chicago and lives 9 Taiwan lengths from home in Corvallis. Pretty funny, especially when maps started getting drawn!)
It's about midnight now, and tomorrow is going to be a long day. We've got sightseeing things planned in Ruifang, Jeioufun, and will be going to the Keelung Night market, so I expect the number of pictures that I've taken to top 1000 any time tomorrow. (This is one of those times that I really wish that I had more than a point-and-shoot camera!) I'll have to post this once I get to wireless internet again, I'm definitely not used to being without it!
Until next time,
Emily
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