Legislators yesterday demanded that the government ensure that a food manufacturer could no longer double as a fodder manufacturer or waste disposal company using the same business license.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said the government should put an end to the single-license-for-all practice in the food industry because it has led to food scares.
Lin cited I-Mei Foods Co (義美食品) general manager Kao Chih-ming (高志明), whose company has not been affected by two cooking oil scandals.
Photo: CNA
From the beginning, Kao chose not to participate in the government-run Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) system and has urged the government to make sure that factories producing different kinds of goods are separately managed.
“For example, a food factory and a fodder factory would need two different licenses,” Lin said, adding that there are plenty of manufacturers around the country that own factories that produce very different products, but the companies operate under one license.
“Yujiali (尤加利), for example, has listed both waste oil recycling and edible oil production among its operations, and it has been using the same manufacturing license for both operations,” Lin said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
DDP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) accused the government of imposing heavy punishments on relatively small enterprises, but slapping Yujiali on the wrist.
Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) has not been held responsible for a previous food scandal, Chen said.
And this time, it has painted itself as a victim again, suffering because of oil produced by Chang Guann Co (強冠企業) “while it has its own cooking oil manufacturer, Cheng I Food Co (正義),” the lawmaker said.
Hong Kong’s government has made it clear that the territory does not produce edible lard for human use, but only for industrial use, but “Ting Hsin, Chang Guann and Cheng I have all imported edible lard from Hong Kong,” Lin said.
Chen asked about the source of Cheng I’s oil, which has not been pulled off shelves, and then asked Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) whether there is a need for “pre-emptive action” to have its oil products pulled off shelves.
Jiang said authorities would track the source and see whether Cheng I “had forged required certifications, as Chang Guann had done.”
Chen said that at least two of Cheng I’s eight domestic lard suppliers are listed as “fodder wholesalers” and one registered a residential address with the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
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