Government officials and prosecutors yesterday launched an investigation into allegations that one of the nation’s largest slaughterhouses was pumping water into cattle to increase their weight, making NT$40 million (US$1.33 million) in profit from the illegal practice.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that it was tipped off by a reader earlier this year that the Fubo Slaughterhouse (福伯屠宰場), which accounts for about one-sixth of the slaughterhouse market, was pumping water into cow carcasses, even though it was already fined for pumping water into live cows two years ago.
According to the newspaper’s report, its reporters four times witnessed workers pumping water into cow carcasses that were hung up in the slaughterhouse during their 11 visits in the past three months.
Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times
Workers were seen holding pipes and pumping water into the carcasses while they massaged the bodies for a couple of minutes, the report said, adding that the bodies were even seen touching the ground during two of the visits.
However, the owners of two beef wholesalers — Shang Hao (上豪) and Shun Fa (順發) — which allegedly conducted the water pumping, claimed that they did it to wash the meat, the report said.
The report also quoted a professor as saying that pumping water could increase the cow meat’s weight by 20 percent, thereby raising its price by about NT$24,000 per head of cattle.
The slaughterhouse was first reported pumping water into live cows by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) in June 2012. The Council of Agriculture imposed a fine of NT$225,000 on Fubo, installed surveillance cameras in the nation’s 14 cattle slaughterhouses and recruited veterinarians to conduct inspections.
The council’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine yesterday said that no surveillance cameras were installed in the area where workers were allegedly seen pumping water into the carcasses.
Bureau chief secretary Chiu Chui-chang (邱垂章) said the bureau had asked the company owners to explain the matter “and after confirming the facts, the bureau will impose a heavier punishment on the companies, according to the number of times and based on the Animal Industry Act (畜牧法).”
A section chief at the bureau, Lin Chin-chung (林進忠), said that if the illegal practice is confirmed, the bureau “will inform the companies to make improvements within a limited period and order them to stop operations if improvements are not made within the stated period.”
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official Fang Shao-wei (方紹威) said the agency conducts regular inspections of meat products, but does not test the products’ water content, and meat containing pumped water is difficult to tell by its appearance.
If the water pumped into the meat is unsanitized, the meat could be affected by harmful bacteria, he said, adding that the FDA was investigating where the meat was sold.
“A fine of NT$60,000 to NT$50 million can be imposed, or [violators] even sentenced to five years in prison for severe cases, according to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), if the downstream companies cannot prove their beef is safe,” Fang said.
In related developments, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday afternoon summoned Fubo Slaughterhouse proprietor Chang Wen-shou (張文壽) for questioning.
When asked for comment outside the prosecutors’ office, Chang dismissed allegations that his company had pumped up cattle carcass with water to increase their weight, saying he “has absolutely no idea why he was being summoned by prosecutors.”
He also declined to confirm whether the man who was allegedly seen pumping water into cow carcasses in a video recorded by Apple Daily reporters worked for his slaughterhouse, which has been ordered to suspend all slaughtering operations.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has also launched an investigation into the allegations, given that the two meat wholesalers associated with Fubo both fall within its jurisdiction.
“Head prosecutor Ssu Han-te (絲漢德) has been put in charge of the investigation,” the prosecutors’ office said.
“The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and our office plan to conduct separate investigations and will later discuss whether we should combine the two cases or transfer the jurisdiction of one of the investigations to the other,” the office added.
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