Victory! PETA Saves Animals from Pointless and Deadly Tests in Taiwan
Victory! In yet another significant victory for animals, pressure from PETA has prompted Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prioritize animal-free testing methods for new food products.
After hearing from PETA, Taiwan’s FDA, the government body responsible for regulating food safety, has updated its food safety rules for novel foods, prioritizing animal-free testing methods and allowing companies to use existing safety data of sufficiently similar ingredients instead of conducting cruel and pointless experiments on animals for the target ingredients.
This landmark move marks a new era toward safer, smarter, and kinder food safety practices in Taiwan, saving the lives of countless animals.
Historically, food safety evaluations meant months of pointless and deadly experiments on animals, but Taiwan is now taking the first steps toward cutting those cruel tests and embracing state-of-the-art animal-free methods.
The change comes after months of PETA effort. PETA scientists reviewed Taiwan’s draft regulation for novel food safety testing, submitted two rounds of detailed technical comments, and successfully persuaded the agency to include language prioritizing internationally recognized non-animal testing methods. PETA also convinced the agency to allow companies to use “bridged data”—existing safety data from similar ingredients—so companies don’t have to conduct redundant tests on animals.
The move also follows previous major victories for animals that PETA has secured in Taiwan.
Earlier this year, the agency removed its recommendation that food and beverage companies conduct deadly tests on animals to establish joint health claims on products marketed to consumers, after hearing from PETA and 125,000 supporters. That significant move saved the lives of countless rats, who will now be spared from being force-fed and mutilated in gruesome and deadly experiments.
Pressure from PETA has helped ensure numerous other wins for animals in Taiwan: Scores of animals no longer are drowned or electroshocked, bred to develop hypertension, fed sugar and bacteria to develop dental decay, fed an iron-deficient diet to develop anemia, or had their ovaries cut out to develop osteoporosis, so companies can make anti-fatigue, blood pressure–lowering, tooth health, blood iron, or bone-related health claims for food and beverages. The Taiwan FDA also now prioritizes internationally recognized, non-animal tests to assess food safety for health foods.
PETA continues to lead a global trend against testing on animals after persuading dozens of food and beverage companies, including some major companies in Taiwan, to end (or commit to never starting) experiments on animals.
What You Can Do
Let’s use this latest victory and keep the momentum going by urging the Taiwan companies to stop experimenting on and killing animals for marketing food and beverage products today!
