A food company has been caught adulterating olive oil it claimed was pure and imported from Europe with substandard oil from Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in its latest report on edible oils.
Of the 76 oil products listed by the administration on Thursday as suspected of being substandard because their fatty acid composition did not meet national standards for edible oils, 24 have passed inspection and 40 confirmed as doctored so far, according to the report.
There are still 11 items pending further examination, while the manufacturer of the remaining product under investigation has been referred to the administration’s prosecution and investigation unit to determine the veracity of its claim that it has no more raw samples of its pure coconut oil left to submit for assessment.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Seven of the 40 substandard oil products were named yesterday, and six of those seven were olive oils from Greater Taichung-based Formosa Oilseed Processing Co that were being marketed as imports from Italy or Spain.
“The products are all labeled as ‘olive oil’ without specifying that they are mixed with other kinds of oil. The inspection showed that they are all adulterated with either sunflower seed oil, salad oil or canola oil,” said Chen Shu-hui (陳淑惠), an official with the Greater Taichung Health Bureau.
Two of Formosa Oilseed’s six adulterated olive oils are 50 percent Chang-chi oil and 50 percent canola oil, according to Chen.
“The other four do contain some olive oil from Italy or Spain, but they are still not 100 percent olive oil since they are blended with sunflower seed oil and salad oil,” she said.
The company is to be fined at least NT$15 million (US$510,000) for the six oil products and its “dishonesty when questioned by the authority,” Chen added.
“A NT$2 million fine will be levied for each of the adulterated oil products,” bureau Director Huang Mei-na (黃美娜) said, adding that a NT$3 million penalty is to be imposed for Formosa Oilseed’s dishonesty and unwillingness to cooperate with inspection staff.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS