Victory! Taiwan FDA Deletes Animal Test Recommendation for Bone Health Claims After PETA Push
For Immediate Release:
April 15, 2025
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
In a major win for animals and truth, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) has permanently removed its recommendation that companies conduct tests on animals to establish bone health claims for marketing food and beverage products sold in Taiwan, after hearing from more than 28,000 PETA supporters.
The policy change is the latest in a growing shift—in Taiwan and around the world—away from cruel and pointless experiments on animals simply to sell foods and beverages to consumers.
The TFDA previously recommended that experimenters cut out the ovaries of mice, rats, or hamsters and feed the animals a calcium-deficient diet to induce osteoporosis, feed or force-feed them the test food, and then kill and dissect them.
“No animal needs to be cut up and killed in a laboratory for the sake of a bogus food-marketing health claim,” says PETA U.S. Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA commends the TFDA for its compassionate move and urges Taiwan Sugar Corporation to follow the agency’s lead by banning cruel and deadly tests on animals.”
After hearing from PETA, numerous food and beverage companies—including Ferrero International, Bacardi Limited, Amy’s Kitchen, Heineken, and Unilever—have pledged no experiments on animals and signed on to PETA’s Eat Without Experiments program. This revolutionary new program and first-of-its-kind online database from PETA pulls back the curtain on tests on animals, allowing consumers to see which companies torment animals in laboratories to sell their products and which don’t.
Following pressure from PETA, countless animals are no longer drowned, shocked, sickened, and more so Taiwan-based companies can say their food and beverages are anti-fatigue, lower blood pressure, promote tooth health or other dubious claims. PETA has persuaded dozens of food and beverage companies, including some major companies in Taiwan, to end—or commit to never starting—experiments on animals, and the TFDA now prioritizes internationally recognized, non-animal tests to assess food safety. PETA is also pushing the TFDA to amend a draft regulation prohibiting health food companies from mutilating rats for joint-protection health claims.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
