Prosecutors yesterday indicted the owner of Far East Oil Mills Co (遠東油脂) and four company officials for allegedly using expired ingredients to produce margarine and other products in a food safety scare that rocked the nation in March.
Among those indicted were company chairman Hsieh Jung-tai (謝榮泰), 83, and his son, Hsieh Hsien-te (謝賢德), 58, who was the registered owner of Far East Oil Mills, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Investigators alleged that the company had made an illegal profit of about NT$100.64 million (US$3.34 million at the current exchange rate) over the years by using expired ingredients to produce margarine, shortening, butter substitute (pastry margarine) and puff pastry.
Also indicted were plant manager Liao Chih-hung (廖志宏), 68; deputy plant manager Lui Tsai-chun (劉在春), 58; and head of the ingredients preparation section Yang Kuei-jung (楊貴榮), 59.
The five were charged with fraud and violating the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also filed for provisional seizure of two plots of land in Taoyuan that are registered as company property, which have a combined estimated value of NT$81.72 million.
Investigators alleged that the Hsieh family have since 2006 collected from stores and restaurants returned products and ingredients that were either expired or defective, “recycled” them and turned them into margarine, shortening, butter substitute and related fat products.
They said they also found that the company’s plant has since 2003 been mixing the expired products with other ingredients that are unsuitable for consumption.
However, Hsieh Hsien-te insisted that the company’s procedure for making fat and oil products follow a manufacturing process taught by food masters with decades of experience.
“The recycled past-due-date ingredients are remixed and reprocessed to make new products, which are as good or even better than regular products,” Hsieh Hsien-te told investigators.
“No one has ever fallen ill or has had health problems from consuming our products,” he said.
Taipei’s and Taoyuan’s health departments ordered the recall of 19 types of products made by the company when the scandal broke out, with Taoyuan health inspectors confiscating 43 tonnes of materials.
Health officials said the problem was quite extensive because Far East Oil Mills’ margarine and fat products were widely used in the food industry and commonly found in retailers and franchised eateries.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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