Several National Taiwan University professors yesterday criticized the government’s efforts to crack down on food safety violations, saying that the snowballing recycled waste oil scandal highlights a lack of inter-ministerial cooperation and the ineffectiveness of the food safety management system.
Their remarks came one day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the results of laboratory tests that found the edible lard oil manufactured by Greater Kaohsiung-based Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), which included recycled waste oil collected from restaurant fryers, met legal standards.
“The oil scandal pertains to three ministries: the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which governs factory registration; the Environmental Protection Administration [EPA], which regulates ordinary business waste such as waste cooking oil; and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which manages edible oil products,” Institute of Environmental Health professor Chen Chia-yang (陳家揚) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Restaurants that produce waste cooking oil are legally required to inform the EPA about the firms they hire to recycle their oil and the amount that is taken away on each trip, while the recycling companies must submit records on the types and quantity of oil they handle to the economic affairs ministry.
Chang Guann allegedly used waste oil provided by Kuo Lieh-cheng (郭烈成), the owner of an unlicensed factory in Pingtung County, who is believed to have purchased the oil from waste recycler Hu Hsin-te (胡信德), Chen said.
“If the EPA and Ministry of Economic Affairs had cross-checked their records, they should have had no trouble spotting companies that sold or purchased abnormal amounts of the waste oil,” Chen said.
Reducing risks to food safety is not just a job for the FDA, it requires a concerted effort by all relevant government agencies, Chen said.
Wu Kuen-yuh (吳焜裕), a professor at the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, said the reason the FDA’s standard lab tests have detected so few problems in the current and previous food scandals is because the government only regulates 800 kinds of food additives and chemicals when there are more than 70,000 being used nationwide.
“In addition, the failure of police investigators to notify the FDA and local health departments the minute they discovered the [alleged] illegal sales of waste cooking oil and the decision to wait four months to do so underlines the lack of cooperation and coordination between agencies,” Wu said.
College of Public Health dean Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅) said that if the government is serious about eliminating illegal practices in the food industry, it should increase the number of random, unannounced inspections of food manufacturers, rather than relying on the companies’ self-monitoring.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS