The businessman at the center of a snowballing edible oil scandal was detained early yesterday on suspicion of fraud as more well-known food makers were forced to recall affected products.
A court in Pingtung County granted a request by prosecutors’ to detain Chang Guann Co (強冠企業) chairman Yeh Wen-hsiang (葉文祥) to prevent him from potentially colluding with witnesses, destroying evidence or fleeing.
Yeh was brought in by prosecutors in Pingtung for questioning on Friday afternoon, more than a week after the scandal emerged.
Photo: Taipei Times
On Sept. 4, investigators said that one of Chang Guann’s lard-based products allegedly used oil reclaimed from kitchen waste and grease from leather processing plants provided by an illegal business run by Kuo Lieh-cheng (郭烈成), who was detained on Sept. 6.
On Thursday, about 24 Chang Guann oil products were recalled as investigators found that for years the Greater Kaohsiung-based company had imported lard intended for animal feed production and other industrial uses from Hong Kong and allegedly used it to make edible oils.
More than 1,000 food companies and restaurants around Taiwan have been affected by the scandal, forcing the recall of numerous food products, from snacks to instant noodles and traditional Chinese cakes.
The businesses affected include Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品工業), Vedan (味丹), Mos Burger and Taipei Leechi (台北犁記), a shop known for its popular pineapple cakes and other sweets.
There were concerns that the fallout could hurt the nation’s image as a nation of good food and undermine consumer confidence in the short term.
It is the second major incident in less than a year involving edible oils.
In October last year, several well-established companies, including Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co (大統長基) and Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) admitted to mixing lower-grade oils with more expensive ones to sell at higher prices.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS