Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan An is trading fire with challenger Puma Shen over
Chiang's free lunch program for students.

Shen and many pan-green city councilors have called for Taipei City to extend
flexible options to parents who wish to pay for their kids to get slightly
better lunches and so that the public funds can be used to purchase higher
quality food for everyone else.

Shen announced a new plan this morning that would allow parents the option to
pay for the meals themselves.

But Mayor Chiang says today that the free meals alleviate the stress of
parents.

he also adds that students bringing their own meals will make others feel
left out.

This comes after DPP City Councilor Xu Shu Hua yesterday asked the Taipei
City Department of Education during interpellation about potentially
contaminated squid that is thought to have caused food poisoning...

but city officials were unable to answer questions regarding which schools
had received the squid.

Chiang says today though that the Education department is continuing to trace
the supply chain.

(AH)