The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) of Taiwan proposed a bill on April 9, 2014, which will ban broadcasting commercials for junk food on TV channels intended for children. The bill included five kinds of junk food which will be banned.
Those commercials which promote products such as pastries, potato chips, french fries, fried chicken and sodas will be banned from kids’ TV channels. The ministry said that commercials which endorse these products are going to be prohibited by the end of 2014. The MHW also noted that toys given away with meals for children will be banned as well, as free toys will encourage children to eat more junk food.
Moreover, selling toys at discounted rates to attract customers will also be banned. The Food and Drug Administration has a list of foods, under which foods which contain 30 percent of fat and more than 10 percent of saturated fat or sugar are counted as junk foods and are not suitable for children to eat.
In addition to that, foods which contain more than 0.3 milligrams of trans fat or 1 gram of sodium in every 100 milligrams are also not suitable. An amended version of the Act Governing Food Sanitation was passed in 2013 by the Legislature and has listed the prohibitions to be implemented.
Photo Credits: Reuters
