KUALA LUMPUR – The Taichung City government has launched its “Taichung Premium Agricultural Products” labels initiative to help Malaysian consumers identify authentic Taichung ponkan (mandarin orange) and to avoid buying fakes.
This initiative was launched due to many cases of counterfeit Taichung ponkan gift boxes in the Malaysian market during past lunar new year seasons which had led to losses for both the consumers and the farmers.
Taiwan-based Shihkang District Farmers’ Association of Taichung City marketing department director Fu Yu Chin said the strong support from the Taichung mayor and the guidance from the Agriculture Bureau of Taichung City government have helped the association and Dongshih District Farmers’ Association to obtain the Global Good Agricultural Practices and ISO 22000 certifications.
“These certificates show that Taichung farms have achieved high standards across all aspects of farming including farm management, food safety training, personnel management, workplace standards, employee welfare, environmental protection, food-safe packaging, high-quality grading, sorting and others.
“With these certificates, consumers can rest assured that they are buying the best quality and safest ponkan in the market,” he said.
In conjunction with this launch, the Taichung City Government has also launched its “Taichung Premium Agricultural Products” labels to ensure consumers can easily differentiate authentic Taichung ponkan so as to avoid buying fakes.
In the future, the brand will be registered in Malaysia and Singapore to further protect the Taichung ponkan brand in these markets.
Taichung is exporting a total of 650 metric tons of ponkan to Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Brunei and Canada – with Malaysia and Singapore accounting for a significant proportion of the sale.
Taichung Golden Ponkan is sold across Malaysia in retailers Harvest Impact, Aeon CO. (M) Sdn Bhd, Cold Storage, Whole Food Market and Star Grocer. – Bernama, December 29, 2022
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