The names of night market vendors who used tainted oil should not be released, Taipei City Department of Health Commissioner Lin Chi-hung (林奇宏) said yesterday, using the metaphor of an “iron heart” (鐵了心) to express his determination not to disclose the information.
The nation’s largest supplier of beef products, Shu-seng (樹森開發股份有限公司), reported this week that a number of its products had been contaminated with oil originating from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
While the city government had previously announced the names of 30 restaurants that had used the steaks, it has thus far refused to reveal the names of 62 night market vendors.
“The decision on whether to reveal the names should be taken with great caution,” Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said. “Thus far, other counties and cities have all chosen not to reveal the night market vendors’ names.”
Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) Tourism Association director Lin Ting-kuo (林定國) said that night markets are concerned about conflict that could arise if the information is revealed. Unlike restaurants, night market vendors do not provide receipts, meaning that there is no way to provide refunds or compensation, he said.
“We’ve previously had cases where vendors were bankrupted after their names were revealed,” said Lin Chi-hung, adding that because Shu-seng has a 90 percent share in the nation’s market for beef products, vendors were not irresponsible in their choice of supplier.
The vendors’ use of the contaminated products was known to government only because they had previously voluntarily registered their supplies with the government, he said. Lin Chi-hung said that revealing the information would be unfair to the vendors and harm the department’s efforts to encourage vendor registration.
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