This Act is enacted to govern the food sanitation, safety and quality, and protect the health of citizens.

For purposes of this Act, the term "competent authority" shall mean the competent health and welfare authority at the central government level, the municipal governments at the municipal level, and the county/city governments at the county/city level.

To enhance the coordination, monitoring, promotion, and inspection of national food safety affairs, the Executive Yuan shall establish the Food Safety Board. The Premier of the Executive Yuan shall serve as the convener with the participation of the heads of other relevant ministries and commissions, experts, scholars, and representatives of non-governmental organizations to take charge of inter-agency coordination for the food safety risk assessment and management measures as well as establish the alert and auditing system of food safety and sanitation. The Food Safety Board shall meet once at least every three months. When necessary, a temporary meeting may be convened. The convener shall appoint a Minister without Portfolio or a head of ministries and commissions to act as the Chief Executive of the Food Safety Board and the central competent authority shall be in charge of staff affairs.
Each municipal/county/city government shall establish the Food Safety Board; the head of the municipality/county/city shall serve as the convener to take charge of inter-departmental coordination for the food safety management measures. A meeting shall be convened once at least every three months.
Decisions made by the Food Safety Board in Paragraph 1 shall be carried out and implemented in compliance by relevant ministries and commissions. Each quarter the Executive Yuan shall announce the supervision results included in its administrative policies report to the Legislative Yuan every year.
The regulations governing the formation, tasks, parliamentary procedures and other matters to be complied with for such Food Safety Board in Paragraph 1 shall be prescribed by the Executive Yuan.

For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall have the meaning set forth below:
1. The term “foods” shall mean goods provided to people for eating, drinking, or chewing, and the raw materials of such goods.
2. The term “special dietary foods” shall mean infant and follow-up formula, formula for certain disease or other formula approved by the central competent authority to be consumed by people with special nutrient requirement.
3. The term "food additives" shall mean a single substance or combination of substances that are added to or brought into contact with foods for the purpose of coloring, seasoning, preserving, bleaching, emulsifying, flavoring, stabilizing quality, enhancing fermentation, increasing viscosity, enriching nutritional value, preventing oxidation or other necessary purpose. Contents of the food additive combinations shall be limited to food additives approved by the central competent authority. The single food additive shall be granted an approval number by the central competent authority.
4. The term "food utensils" shall mean instruments, tools, or containers that come into direct contact with foods or food additives.
5. The terms "food containers or packaging" shall mean containers and packaging materials that come into direct contact with foods and food additives.
6. The term "food cleansers" shall mean substances used to disinfect or clean foods, food utensils, food containers and food packaging.
7. The term "food businesses" shall mean those businesses that engage in the manufacture, processing, preparation, packaging, transportation, storage, sale, import or export of foods, or engage in the manufacture, processing, import, export or sale of food utensils, food containers or packaging, or food cleansers.
8. The term "labels" shall mean wording, pictures, symbols or additional instruction sheet affixed to foods, food additives, food cleansers, food utensils, food containers or food packaging to indicate the product name or to give explanation.
9. The term “nutrition label” shall mean the nutrients, contents or nutrient claims of the food affixed to food containers or packaging.
10. The term “inspection” shall mean examination and testing.
11. The term “genetic modification” shall mean the transferring of genetic materials or implant of live cells or organisms via genetic engineering, molecular biotechnology, or other related technologies to produce genetic recombination, exogenous genetic characteristics, or to suppress certain genes of the recipient. However, this does not include traditional breeding methods or techniques such as the merging, hybridization, mutation, in-vitro fertilization, somaclonal variation, and chromosome doubling of plants of the same species and protoplasts.
12. The term “processing aid” shall mean any substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients, to fulfill a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the final product. Any residues of processing aids shall be removed before the food reaches its finished form and remaining in the food after processing should not perform a function in the final product.