FDA applauded for delivery safety measures - Taipei Times

The Taipei Public Health Specialists Association yesterday said it applauds the government for its efforts to institutionalize the management of food safety in food delivery by drafting a specialized act, but also suggested that it can further develop an "ability test" to replace mandatory "training hours."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday announced drafted regulations on the implementation of food sanitation, and safety education and training for food delivery workers.

The draft act stipulates that new food delivery workers must complete at least an hour of food sanitation and safety training before they start working, and incumbent workers must also receive at least an hour of training each year.

Photo: Taipei Times

The association yesterday said, although it applauds the government's efforts, it suggested developing an "ability test" to replace mandatory "training hours" to achieve better training effectiveness through standardized teaching materials, situational tests and tiered auditing.

Association president Wong Ruey-hong (翁瑞宏) said that as food delivery platforms become a common channel for people to purchase meals on a daily basis, food safety risks have extended beyond the kitchen to the delivery process.

Temperature control, the separation of hot and cold food, packaging integrity and delivery efficiency can all impact food safety and quality, so the FDA's proactive attempt to regulate food safety in delivery services reflects a forward-thinking management approach, which deserves recognition, he said.

The FDA's draft would affect about 100,000 food delivery workers across the country, Wong said, adding that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's statistics show that the number of food delivery workers has surpassed 140,000.

The high number of workers highlights the importance of establishing a comprehensive training system, he said.

Association council member Tsai Ping-chien (蔡秉兼) said the draft act requires delivery workers to complete at least an hour of food safety training that can be administered by either the platform operators or approved institutions, which ensures high coverage and industry flexibility, making it a highly pragmatic and feasible regulatory design.

However, the quality of the platforms' self-run courses, online learning identity verification and cross-platform auditing standards might need to be further improved to ensure that training truly reflects actual food delivery working conditions, he said.

The association provided three suggestions, including developing standardized training materials and courses for food delivery scenarios, focusing on temperature control, hot and cold food separation and packaging, and packaging integrity.

They also suggested setting random scenario-based quizzes and periodic facial recognition check-ins on platform apps to verify that the training was completed by the users themselves.

Citing regulations from other countries, the association said several countries have gradually expanded their scope of food safety management to include food delivery services in the past few years.

Taiwan's approach of mandating food safety training for delivery workers through regulations is considered a comparatively proactive measure by international standards, the association said.

If the focus can be shifted from training hours to ability verification, while ensuring platform responsibility and rigorous auditing, delivery food safety management and consumer health can be further enhanced, it added.

Delivery food safety is a risk governance effort shared by platforms, delivery drivers and the government, Wong said, adding that the association is willing to offer its public health expertise to assist the government in continuously improving the regulations.