Page 113 - 2022 Taiwan Health and Welfare Report

Chapter 4 National Laboratories and Risk Management
TFDA continues to improve the functions of national laboratory, construct testing techniques in line with international trends, enhance the development of testing technology, support administrative management by testing technology, implement risk management as well as crisis management mechanisms and complete food and drug safety management system to effectively reduce risks and the impact of crises.
▏Section 1 Missions and Functions of National Laboratories
1. In response to the needs of various types of product inspection, TFDA actively develop rapid and accurate test methods to ensure food and drug safety. In 2021, 3,806 cases were carried out and the number of test items came to 13,053. Moreover, TFDA assisted prosecutors, policemen, investigator, judiciary and customs in product investigation, and provided technical support for local health authorities.
2. TFDA continued to improve and expand testing capacity and capability and also formulated technical documents for use to all relevant interested parties. In 2021, TFDA promulgated and amended 58 announced test methods for food products, and published or revised 46 recommended test methods for foods, 8 for cosmetics and medical devices, 3 for drugs and abused drugs, and 1 for biological drugs.
3. In 2021, the National Laboratories took part in 30 international proficiency tests for food, medicine and medical devices, with all outcomes being satisfactory as the Laboratories' testing capabilities received international recognition.
4. TFDA hosted the "2021 APEC International Workshop on Food Adulterated with Drugs and Illegal Products", "Workshop on the Analysis and Application of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging", "Conference on Analytical Techniques for Cosmetics" and "2021 Annual Food Analytical Techniques Online Symposium" for technical exchange and experience sharing in 2021. Under the support of APEC, TFDA launched the "2021 APEC
Online Communication Platform for COVID-19 Vaccine Testing Harmonization and Information Exchange of Batch Release Activity", inviting 10 countries from APEC member economies and Europe to participate, to maintain the quality of vaccines together and promote mutual resources sharing.
▏Section 2 Risk Management, Communication and Crisis
Management Mechanisms
1. Organizational risk management:
TFDA held the "Risk Management and Crisis Handling Workshop" on September 16 2021 with the themes of "Digital Elite Wisdom Pilot. - Food and Drug Big Data Competition" with a total of 151 participants.
2. Risk Communication Strategies and Benefits
In 2021, TFDA hosted online food safety challenge events, and published two food safety information in schoolchildren's magazines and 24 news updates in Drug and Food Safety Weekly. As such, TFDA undertakes multichannel risk communication with people of different ages.
3. Handling of major crisis:
In response to the case of people smuggling pork from Vietnam tested positive for African swine fever, from August 24 to October 7, 2021, the "inspection of origin for meat products," and "electronic commerce platform inspection" were conducted. TFDA continuously used keywords to monitor products of famous shopping website, to ensure no illegal pork products were sold on these markets.
▏Section 3 Local and Private Laboratory Accreditation
and Management
1. Through the "Regional Integrated Laboratory Testing System", TFDA continuously coordinates and assists designating of testing items to help local health bureau's self-testing rate to reach 91%. As of the end of 2021, the number of tests done had went up to 90,216. A total of 22 health bureaus and 1,092 items had passed laboratory certification by TFDA of MOHW.
07
111
Management of Food and Drugs