Brazilian eggs overthrow minister in Taiwan – 09/20/2023 – Market

A week after Brazilian eggs were removed from supermarket shelves in Taiwan, Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung resigned.

“I believe I must resign because my effectiveness has been compromised,” he said in a television interview, shortly before bowing before the cameras.

“My colleagues at the Ministry of Agriculture will be better able to do their work,” he added. He cited the turmoil surrounding the egg import program as the reason, but did not acknowledge error, saying it was created by his critics.

The island’s government started the program in March, leading to the purchase of 145 million eggs by July, from nine countries, 80 million of which from Brazil. But a series of setbacks made the issue, for months, one of the focuses of the campaign for the presidential elections on January 13th.

The lack of eggs has worried consumers, who have felt inflationary pressure since the turn of the year. The Taiwanese consume 24 million units per day, but daily domestic production is 23 million and does not cover demand.

Questions about the import began with the revelation that a batch had been identified with a veterinary antibiotic, Florfenicol, restricted for use in Taiwan, although accepted in several countries. The batch was blocked at customs, according to the surveillance agency, but from then on the criticism did not stop.

It was partly due to the bird flu recognized by Brazil at the end of May, a period in which eggs were imported from the country. “What a coincidence”, joked deputy Wang Hunj-Huei, from the largest opposition party, the KMT. “The government only labeled Brazil [como zona com a doença] in June.”

The importing and distributing company, Tai Nong Egg, responded that the eggs had already left Brazil when the outbreak began, without risk of contamination.

But foreign purchases have not entirely eliminated egg shortages and pressure on prices. On the 3rd, the tabulation commission announced an increase.

On the same day, the KMT requested an investigation into Tai Nong Egg, created a year ago and which concentrates egg imports, allegedly with government subsidies, calling it a “shell company”.

Subsequently, the crisis worsened with the revelation of errors in the expiration date added to one of the batches of Brazilian eggs, with only 20 thousand units, but leading to their removal from the shelves, headlines in newspapers and television last week. They were still on schedule, but with the wrong date.

Opposition parliamentarians stated that they would continue to “pursue the Brazilian egg problem”.

Shortly afterwards, the ministry ended up acknowledging that it had destroyed 54 million of the 145 million imported eggs, now stimulating criticism for the supposed waste of public resources, estimated at 200 million Taiwan dollars (R$30.3 million). Surrounded, the minister resigned.