The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday released the names of six companies which purchased Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co’s (頂新製油實業) eight beef tallow products which allegedly used oil imported from Vietnam that was intended for animal use, involving 12 finished food items.
On the list were Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) with three noodle sauce products; UTC Foods Co (聯夏食品) with two curry sauce items and one frozen beef stew item; Hsin Yu Yuan Food Co (新玉園食品) with three cream products; Gen Asia Biotech Co (詮亞) with one beef tallow powder product; SE Food Co (三億食品) with one spicy beef tallow item and Happy Brothers Co (幸福兄弟) with one refined butter item.
“As for the other eight firms that also procured the potentially problematic products from Ting Hsin Oil, the FDA will make public a list of the items they manufactured using the alleged animal feed-grade oil when such information becomes available,” FDA Interim Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) told a press conference yesterday afternoon.
All these companies are required to pull from shelves the potentially tainted products in their entirety by midnight tomorrow or face a fine ranging from NT$60,000 to NT$50 million (US$1,975 to US$1.6 million), Chiang said.
However, hours later, the administration crossed Happy Brothers off the list based on the local health agency’s confirmation that the corporation’s refined butter product was intended for industrial use.
“The discovery raised questions as to whether Happy Brothers had been aware of the nature of Ting Hsin Oil’s imported beef tallow when it purchased the oil,” Chiang said.
If it had not, then it must give a reasonable explanation as to why it acquired beef tallow marketed as for human consumption for the production of an industrial use product, Chiang added.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS