From
2013 to 2018, Lian Hwa conducted and/or funded
at least five laboratory experiments
that involved no fewer than 178 animals.
Previously, Lian Hwa supported invasive and lethal
animal testing methods to justify claims that it made in marketing materials to
consumers about the supposed human health benefits of its products and
ingredients, which include oats, probiotics, and mulberry leaves. But after
hearing from PETA, the company has established a new, forward-thinking policy
stating, “Lian Hwa Foods … does not conduct, sponsor, or entrust/outsource to
third-parties to conduct animal testing unless expressly required by
regulations” (English translation of original Mandarin policy).
PETA is calling on other food companies in Taiwan to
stop funding or conducting needless experiments on animals.
These tests have entailed force-feeding,
electroshocking, drowning, starving, bleeding, poisoning, dissecting, and/or
killing more than 8,000 animals over the past two decades. Lian Hwa now
joins Standard
Foods Group and Vitalon
Foods Group—the largest and third-largest health food companies in Taiwan,
respectively—in banning such tests, none of which Taiwanese law requires, after
hearing from PETA.
Previously, PETA also successfully pressured the
Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) to adopt two major reforms:
first, removing
horrific drowning and electroshock tests on animals from the
regulation concerning companies attempting to make anti-fatigue health claims
for marketing their products and, second, updating
its safety testing regulation for health foods to prioritize
“non-animal test methods that are internationally recognized.”
PETA and more than 96,000 of our conscientious
supporters are now calling on the
TFDA to ban animal tests in a separate draft regulation for companies
attempting to make joint-protection health claims for marketing foods and
beverages.
What You Can Do
Please take action today to urge other Taiwanese
companies still testing on animals for marketing food and beverage products to
step into the 21st century and end these horrific experiments that don’t
advance human health, are not required by law, and have no place in modern
research.