Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) should make clear to the public if the Cabinet has in any way hidden the severity of adulterated-oil reports or covered for oil businesses, and also take political responsibility for mistaken guarantees that oil products are still edible, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Following the adulterated lard product scandal involving Chang Guann Co (強冠企業) last month, the market has once again been shaken by reports of adulterated oil from Cheng I Food Co (正義股份), which allegedly mixed animal feed oil with lard.
According to DPP Legislative Yuan Convener Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), many legislators had warned Jiang and the Cabinet that there was potential adulteration of oil supplies at Cheng I Food — a subsidiary of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) — but the warnings had been met with assurances by Jiang that the oils were safe.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The entirety of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government had been attempting to cover for Ting Hsin, a Taiwanese company with Chinese funding, and ignored the health of Taiwanese, Tsai Chi-chang said, adding that Jiang must resign and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should extend a public apology.
DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said Jiang’s guarantee of certain companies has caused Taiwanese to ingest tainted oil for two more weeks after his statement.
Whether “political responsibility” by Tsai Ing-wen meant stepping down, “Jiang’s conscience would tell him,” Hsu said, adding that everyone in the nation knew clearly what it meant.
Despite the multiple amendments to food security laws in recent years, the crux of the issue was non-implementation of the laws, he said.
If the government could not hold companies to its laws and keep using special methods to solve problems caused by companies who transgress, it would not matter how strict the nation’s laws were, Hsu said.
Former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the government seemed unable to come up with a permanent solution for outbreaks of food security issues.
All the government can do is to reassure the public, hold meetings and investigate, but it could not produce a safe and healthy food environment, Su said, adding that it demonstrated that the government was the problem central to the issue.
Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-chuyn (孫立群) rejected the DPP’s accusation against Jiang, saying that the government has never discontinued its investigation into the waste oil scandal and handed over the relevant information to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office as early as Sept. 19.
Sun said he would not respond to the DPP’s call demanding Jiang’s resignation.
The premier convened another cross-ministerial meeting on tainted lard yesterday and sternly denounced the use of substandard materials to manufacture lard.
Jiang also demanded that the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and other relevant agencies, make thorough and close examinations on the flow of the tainted oil products, and “reserve zero room for leniency and hold the culpable accountable to the fullest extent.”
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