More household food brands were drawn into the snowballing recycled waste oil scandal yesterday as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and health departments nationwide stepped up efforts to trace the downstream buyers of the companies that have allegedly made purchases from oil manufacturer Chang Guann Co (強冠企業).
New names included Taipei Leechi (台北犁記), a breakaway from a famous bakery store founded in 1894 in the what is now Shekou Borough (社口) of Greater Taichung’s Shengang District (神岡).
The green bean and meat pastry (綠豆椪) has been a popular gift during the annual Mid-Autumn Festival.
Photo: CNA
“We added Taipei Leechi to the list of implicated companies late last night after discovering that 187 of the 453 15kg cartons of tainted ‘fragrant lard oil’ purchased by the Taipei-based bakery ingredients company For Chorn Co (佛晨) from Chang Guann had been sold to it and its affiliated bakery store, Ricians Co (聯翔喜餅),” the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health said in a press release.
The department said the two pastry stores used the deficient oil in its entirety to manufacture a total of 19,800 meat-filled sesame pastries (芝麻肉餅) weighing 600g each.
Hsia Chi Wan (呷七碗), one of the nation’s most famous food manufacturers of glutinous rice gift boxes for babies’ first-month birthday, also became engulfed in the oil scandal, when its prepackaged fried rice noodles were found to contain minced pork manufactured by Miaoli-based Mei Chu Food (美廚食品) using the contaminated lard oil.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
According to the New Taipei City Government’s Public Health Department, Hsia Chi Wan was unaware that its rice noodle products had been tainted by the questionable oil, since it did not purchase the minced pork directly from Mei Chu Food, but rather from Yih Yuan Additives Chemical Industry Co (億元食品化工) in Keelung.
In addition, supermarket chain Wellcome (頂好超市) was also implicated after the company it entrusted with producing its own-branded mushroom and minced pork seasoning packs — Luxe Enterprises Ltd (陸仕企業) — was found to have used the problematic lard oil in the product.
Chang Guann has been in hot water after it was found to have purchased 247 tonnes of recycled waste oil — collected from restaurant fryers, discarded animal parts, fat and skin — from an unlicensed factory in Pingtung County since February.
Photo courtesy of the Changhua County Public Health Bureau
It had mixed the recycled oil with processed lard and turned it into 782 tonnes of edible lard oil, before selling the product to 236 oil distributors, restaurants and food processing and manufacturing companies around the nation.
As of 2pm yesterday, the FDA had found that 971 food factories, restaurants, and street vendors had purchased the edible oil or products made with it from the 236 establishments.
Of the 782 tonnes of the tainted lard, 142.1 tonnes have been sealed for investigation and 502.9 tonnes have been used in the production of a total of 136 kinds of food products, the FDA said, adding it was still tracing the remaining 137 tonnes of the oil.
FDA Deputy Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) yesterday announced that businesses could face fines ranging between NT$60,000 and NT$50 million (US$2,000 and US$1.6 million) if found to be selling the contaminated products or using the tainted lard after tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Wei Lih Food Industrial Co (維力食品), a well-known instant noodle manufacturer, recalled three of its noodle products after they were found to be made with recycled oil.
In a statement, Wei Lih said that it was notified a day earlier by the Changhua County Public Health Bureau that its supplier, Mei Chu Food, had used recycled oils provided by Chang Guann Co as ingredients for the three products.
In light of food safety concerns, Wei Lih said the company would accept returns and provide refunds for the named products. Wei Lih’s major retailers, including Carrefour, have also begun removing the noodles from store shelves.
According to the Changhua County Public Health Bureau, Wei Lih has sold 555,246 packages of the three named instant noodles, with another 115,524 packs in inventory having being sealed for investigation.
Additional reporting by CNA
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS