Consumer advocates yesterday urged the nation's fast-food chains and coffee shops to follow their US counterparts and stop using cooking oil containing trans fats.
As studies increasingly show a link between consumption of trans fats and cardiovascular diseases, the food industry should immediately stop using it, the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) said.
"If Americans can, why can't we [stop using trans-fat cooking oil]?" foundation chairman Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said yesterday, adding that local restaurant operators should follow suit and put clear labeling on the products.
PHOTO: EPA
Burger King Holdings Inc announced yesterday that it planned to switch to trans-fat-free oil in the US and Canada by late next year and has begun testing alternatives at some restaurants.
The healthier oil will first be used in New York before the city's ban on frying using trans-fat oil takes effect in July, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc in the US also said yesterday that it was trying to drop trans-fat oil, without specifying a target date.
Several fast-food operators have been making the shift to trans-fat-free oil since last November in response to consumer demand.
Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks and McDonald's have announced plans to use new cooking oils, while Wendy's International Inc said it has already cut the additive at its 6,000 US locations.
McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, has not specified a date for when its trans fat-free oil, a canola-based blend, will be used nationwide in the US, but its branch in Taiwan has moved faster.
McDonald's Taiwan started using healthier unhydrogenated vegetable oil in its 350 outlets nationwide late last month. The shift followed six months of tests to make sure that the new oil would preserve the taste and texture of its famous French fries, Viya Chen (陳薇雅), the company's assistant vice president for marketing and communications, said yesterday.
KFC Taiwan, meanwhile, said in November that it would follow the US headquarters' decision to conform with national safety standards and shift to trans-fat-free oil.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”