Food import is really difficult and right now if you import meat without permit you get a huge fine.
Like where? Im not saying taiwan is awesome, but show me a âfirst worldâ country that has healthy quality food most of the time. As i see it, this is a fantasy many consumers have that have zero experience in manufacturing.
Right, when I was in China , took a good month of shitting myself to build some resistance to the food standards there. You always see really questionable and shocking practices there.
I find Taiwan generally OK, never get sick from food here
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And⌠This is why itâs going to fail
I never worked with food but used to be involved with homewares. Since the food scandals , testing and standards in Taiwan have become so tough. In fact as you say, Taiwan is becoming one of the strictest places. Possibly too far
Yes, I totally agree with this. How will you business be different than what Costco already does. Thereâs no way youâll be able to compete with them
That may be true for businesses, but that doesnât cover small restaurants and night markets.
In fact, I spoke with a team of health inspectors a few years ago.
In many countries, they do an annual check at minimum. Here, they never check unless someone complains. Thatâs it. No food inspections otherwise. Maybe itâs changed, I hope it has, but I highly doubt it
Also, what about ISO the international standards organization? Theyâre part of the UN so I imagine Taiwan isnât a member
I have gotten food poisoning in the US twice.
I have never gotten food poisoning in Taiwan at all.
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A lot of products need to go through sgs testing,
I have to agree with this. As bad it may look, seems wet markets (here) seems to less illness than other nations âhypermartsâ which backend operations are hidden. The biggest problems for me as food illness are Asian eateries in Western nations as strange that maybe.
France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia
Yea, my last food poisoning, back in 2002 was in California from eating beef noodle soup.
I have only had food poisoning once in Taiwan (and it was the worst of my life). But I will say in general Iâm always having some sort of digestive issue in Taiwan, particularly when Iâm eating the outstanding local cuisine. Though, I suppose that could be the nightly binge drinking 
Doubt that. Alcohol above 20% ABV is the most effective and reliable method to kill any stomach bugs.
So if youâre still having digestive issues, imagine how bad theyâd be if you werenât binge drinking every night. 
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There are already large distributors doing that. Not saying that the OP canât successfully get into the food distribution business, but heâd be going up against local companies that have tons of money and relationships, like Mayfull Foods. This is not a venture that you can start with no knowledge of the local market, connections and cash.
No, no, not sure, so so, no, not sure, no and no. Personal experience with manufacturers.
I think most people would be shocked how their food is made. Too many folk expect a 3 star michelin quality at mcdonalds prices and the reality is we are all essentially eating filtered dog food.
As @eCanada suggests, markets, restaraunts, unlicensed anyone are a bigger issue. There are more and more hand.made style businesses now, but factories and.ltd companies do get inspected. As mentioned this varies county to county and even then the fda farms this job out to 3 rd party companies.usually. if the actual fda shows up, expect to pay fines. Thats reality now. Especially for smaller and new companies.
Not sure what everyone is on about wuth costco. Tey arent great either, its a bad example. All the big guys get caught.here, the public is just dumb enough to believe fake apologies. Reminds me of a funny news interview back when the multiple oil scandals were going on. They interviewed a chef and he refused to enable the media and apoligize for using the oil. He simply said, he bought oil that is gmp certified and i am not a fault, i have changed brands. Or something to that effect. Loved it, good for him.
Starting a new manufacturing food company us quite strict. Depends on the county of course, taipei, hsinhu, yilan hualien, taidong seem to be stricter. But they do have insane amounts of laws. If you have interest or questions happy to share my.experiences and info. But dont expect it to be easy or cheap. Best bet is start small, get yor food ID, get a rwntal yhat is zoned and licensed.to allow for business and go hand made. when.you turn profits work up to a factory. Note why most small businesses use oem.
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Hey now this is some advice I can get behind. Hereâs to my future alcoholism. Take that, E. Coli. Cheers.
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Yea, binge drinking doesnât cause digestive issues. Hahaha! Itâs not the stomach bugs that cause issues with drinking, and Iâm pretty sure 20% alcohol is not better than the ~2 ph in your stomach for killing bugs.