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
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS