“We suggest that a cross-strait protocol measure be set up to ensure future food safety for consumers in Taiwan and mainland China,” said Sun Bao-nien, a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University on Sunday.

China’s spotty record on food safety was highlighted in mid-September when the country’s biggest milk powder producer issued a public recall for infant formula that had been adulterated with melamine to mask its lack of protein after being watered down.

The tainted-formula left four young children dead and tens of thousands more sickened with kidney-related afflictions.

Consumers here panicked when it was discovered that 25 tons of the company’s milk powder had been imported into Taiwan, causing an outcry that forced the incumbent head of the country’s Department of Health to resign over his handling of the episode.

President of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chen Yunlin apologized Oct. 30 to the people of Taiwan over the issue and vowed to improve future food safety.

Though few if any local residents have suffered health problems from the contaminated milk powder or other imported products from China found to have trace amounts of melamine, one scholar argued that the matter was still of major concern to local residents.

“Though nobody was hurt in Taiwan, the people of Taiwan are still very much concerned over future food safety because many ingredients used in food production in Taiwan are imported from China,” said Chen Hui-wen, a professor at Taipei Medical University and a former Department of Health, Food and Environmental Hygiene director.

Food safety will be one of the main issues on the agenda of this week’s talks between Taiwan and China, represented by Chiang Pin-kung, the chairman of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), and Chen.

One scholar hoped an agreement signed on food safety would require continuing discussion on the issue.

“Given that the tainted milk incident has caused alarm to both sides of the Taiwan Strait, I think that one meeting on food safety issue is not sufficient,” Sun said.

“Only through continued and friendly talks between the two sides can food safety be guaranteed in the future,” he added.

Sun, a specialist in nutrition and food safety, said with the melamine-contaminated food scare fresh in people’s minds, now was the right time to act on the issue.

“There are thousands upon thousands of different food items that are traded between Taiwan and China. We must seize this opportunity to establish a mechanism to ensure cross-strait food safety,” he said.

Department of Health Yeh Ching-Chuan outlined on Oct. 29 the main points of emphasis of his department in protecting local consumers.

“We shall place our focus on prevention of substandard food products, tight quality control of food imports and make sure that we guarantee the safety of our consumers in Taiwan,” he said.