Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has demanded that Cabinet officials ensure food products containing illegal cooking oil are removed from shelves by tomorrow, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) told a press conference yesterday.
The conference followed a meeting called by Jiang to discuss measures in response to the latest food safety scare sparked by the use of oil recycled from various sources, such as discarded kitchen waste and grease used to clean leather, being mixed in with cooking oil.
Jiang instructed the Ministry of Health and Welfare to release as soon as possible a thorough list of all food items manufactured by 235 food companies that have purchased the problematic oil, branded as “Chuan Tung fragrant lard oil” from Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), Sun said.
Photo: CNA
Chang Guann Co was one of the food manufacturers found to have blended oil recycled by an unlicensed factory in Pingtung County with lard oil. The factory also sold tainted oil to Ching Wei Co, an animal feed manufacturer.
Jiang has ordered that all the products on the list be taken off store shelves and sealed by tomorrow, Sun said.
Sun quoted Jiang as saying that the Ministry of Justice and related authorities must doggedly trace the sources of the tainted oil and their distribution channels and punish those responsible severely, in accordance with the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), the Feed Control Act (飼料管理法) and the Criminal Code.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Jiang said he felt heart-wrenched over food manufacturers using inedible materials in conspiring for profits, according to Sun.
To set the public at ease, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which has commissioned a group of experts to examine the health implications of consuming the illegal cooking oil, should reveal the results of its study once it is complete, Sun said.
Meanwhile, Jiang asked the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Defense to look into whether suppliers that provide meals to schools and the military also used the tainted cooking oil, Sun said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance were tasked with checking the transportation routes of the problematic cooking oil products and coming up with measures to handle issues concerning foreign trading partners, Sun said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS