Taiwan gutter oil scandal spreads
Print Edition
TAINTED lard oil in Taiwan’s latest food scandal has met hygiene standards, the island’s public health authority said yesterday, but products will still be banned from sale.
Despite the assurance, in Shanghai and Hong Kong products were being pulled from shelves out of safety concerns as the fallout from the scandal spread.
Taiwan’s consumers have been gripped by fear after police busted a ring of six people selling hundreds of tons of recycled cooking oil made from kitchen waste and grease from leather processing plants.
Chang Guann Co, a well-established cooking oil supplier on the island, purchased the recycled oil to produce 782 tons of lard, with 645 tons sold to 971 food companies and restaurants, including a number of leading brands.
Chang Guann’s lard, which had been refined, met all hygiene requirements, except for a test of heavy metals that is yet to be completed, according to Taiwan’s public health authority.
However, since refining recycled oil into lard breached the law, all products made with the adulterated oil should be removed from shelves, Taiwan health authorities said.
Food manufacturers, restaurants and snack shops who do not stop using Chang Guann’s lard would face fines from NT$60,000 (US$2,000) to NT$50 million.
Sun Lih-chyun, a spokesman for Taiwan’s administrative authority, said Chuan Guann’s products were illegal despite the negative test results and severe punishment would be meted out to those who had broken food safety regulations.
Products removed in Shanghai
Some Shanghai stores were yesterday removing products from Taiwan suspected of being tainted with the recycled oil while others were busy assuring customers their products were safe.
At the supermarket run by Jiuguang Department Store on Nanjing Road W., more than 200 varieties of products were taken off the shelves, over 20 of them from Taiwan’s leading food company Wei Chuan Foods Corp. A member of the supermarket’s staff said: “We are taking these products off the shelves temporarily according to a government order.”
However, Wei Chuan Shanghai said its products manufactured on China’s mainland did not use material imported from Taiwan, and were therefore safe.
Bakery and coffee chain 85°C, owned by Taiwan’s Gourmet Masters Co, was not removing any products from its city outlets. It said no material from Taiwan had been used in their production.
At the Baozhuan Food Store on Wujiang Road, jelly, biscuits, cookies and seeds produced by Triko Foods Co Ltd, a company on the Taiwan health authority’s list, were still on sale. Staff said they had not been told to stop selling the Taiwan-made products. “The products don’t have lard oil in the ingredient list, therefore should be safe for consumers,” staff said.
Hong Kong-based Maxim’s Caterers Ltd, owner of Meixin Mooncake, said its mooncakes were not being withdrawn from sale in Shanghai.
“The oil supplied by the illegal manufacturer was only used in pineapple buns, and our mooncake product is safe,” a Meixin Mooncake staff member said.
In Hong Kong, pineapple buns and dumplings have been pulled from the shelves as authorities check whether they contained traces of the tainted oil, officials said.
Hong Kong chains were pulling products from their shelves while experts were ramping up spotchecks.
Philip Ho, an official in Hong Kong’s food and environmental hygiene department, told RTHK radio yesterday that dozens of food samples had been taken, with results expected in the next few days.
Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety is also conducting tests on mooncakes from retailers across the city.
‘To be ultra cautious’
Maxim’s said it had removed pineapple buns from its shelves over the weekend after confirming that they had used oil from Chang Guann.
The chain said there was no evidence the lard oil used to make the buns contained tainted products, but it was removing them anyway “to be ultra cautious on food safety.” It has since switched to a Dutch supplier.
Dumpling eatery chain Bafang Yunji also pulled its curry dumplings, RTHK reported, while supermarket Wellcome removed two products.
In Macau, the region’s food safety center said 21 bakeries and food manufacturers had bought oil from Chang Guann through a local importer.
Shoppers in Hong Kong said they were increasingly concerned about the safety of food.
“It’s definitely a problem as it could be really bad for your health,” said Simon Cheung, a 50-year-old father of two.
“I reckon the problem is not small even if they (retailers) say so.”
Chang Guann has apologized for the scandal but said that it was unaware the oils were recycled.
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