CHANGHUA (TVBS News) — Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) announced on Tuesday (Oct. 29) plans to assist schools with fewer than 100 students in purchasing refrigerators.
This initiative aims to facilitate the implementation of the "Fresh Milk for Every Class" (班班有鮮奶) policy, which the Ministry of Education (MOE, 教育部) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA, 農業部) are promoting in response to New Zealand's tariff-free milk imports to Taiwan starting in 2025.
The policy provides public elementary school students and affiliated kindergartens with domestic dairy products at least twice weekly. Wang emphasized Changhua County's support, highlighting its status as a major milk producer, supplying about one-quarter of Taiwan's fresh milk. She explained that the county government plans to secure the necessary funding to address the cold chain issues in larger schools.
Legislator Chen Tsun-tsun (陳銌銌) noted that schools have resorted to ordering long-life milk due to the lack of cold chain equipment, complicating policy execution. Wang stressed that consuming long-life milk is akin to drinking imported milk, which harms local dairy farmers. Therefore, the county government aims to ensure students can access fresh milk.