The Chiayi City Council yesterday passed a proposal requiring all schools in the city not to use food products made by Ting Hsin International Group.
The proposal was submitted by two city councilors amid a widespread public outcry over a district court ruling late last month acquitting former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat chairman Wei Ying-chun (魏應充) of violating food safety laws.
Wei was indicted in October last year after investigators found that the group had imported animal feed-grade material and declared it to customs as fit for human consumption. It was then used to make oil for cooking and making pastry.
The verdict drew a strong response from National Taiwan University president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), who announced on Dec. 1 that the university would “indefinitely boycott” Ting Hsin food products.
He also urged schools nationwide to join he boycott.
Since then, several city departments of education, including those in Taichung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, have followed suit, instructing public schools to stop procuring products made by companies affiliated with the Ting Hsin group.
Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said he supported the council’s decision and would instruct all primary and middle schools to join the boycott.
He also called the judges who made the acquittal ruling “dinosaur judges,” and blasted them for setting free people who profited from selling oil made from animal feed-grade oil that could contain heavy metals.
“Such a ruling is not acceptable,” Twu said.
The term “dinosaur judges” is commonly used in Taiwan to refer to judges who are not attuned to the times and who make decisions contrary to public expectations.
On Nov. 27, the Changhua District Court acquitted Wei, six other company executives and its supplier, saying that the prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove their claims that Ting Hsin Oil and Fat had sourced fat rendered from unhealthy animals or that the company’s products had been manufactured under unsanitary conditions.
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