The Consumers’ Foundation called on the government to introduce an identity system to guarantee the safety of consumers following the discovery of suspected “fake” pork floss products made without animal oil.
The foundation in June inspected 25 pork floss or pork jerky products, it said on Wednesday, adding that it found five products that failed to qualify as crude protein and three products that did not have the amount of starch required for dried meat products as stipulated by Chinese National Standard (CNS) 15144.
Pork floss products from the Sunmerry Bakery’s Yadong Hospital branch, the Yitang Bakery in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and a My Warm Day outlet in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) were found to contain only soybean oil.
Testing the primary oil content helped deduce the kind of meat used, foundation staff member Ling Yung-chien (凌永健) said, adding that pork floss at the inspected stores did not contain any lard.
While substituting lard for chicken oil could drop overhead costs, such practices are considered food adulteration and are viewed as serious incidents in Western countries, although it is yet to be regulated in Taiwan, Ling said.
Pork floss on bread is a widely sold product, foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said, adding that it should be more strictly regulated due to its popularity.
Should stores be found guilty of false advertising, they could face fines from NT$40,000 up to NT$4 million (US$1,325 to US$132,516), Yu said, adding that pork floss is not currently an item that is regularly inspected.
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