Hong Kong will be on guard to see if there are foods there that contain a questionable lard-based shortening from Taiwan, a Hong Kong official said yesterday.
Noting that Taiwanese authorities have identified more than 70 food companies that have been using a type of lard produced by Kao-hsiung-based Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), which was found to contain recycled kitchen oil, Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau Secretary Ko Wing-man (高永文) said that the city would also check whether any foods other than Maxim’s Cakes’ (美心西餅) pineapple buns have been using questionable shortening imported from Taiwan.
Maxim’s Cakes, a Hong Kong company that also has shops in Taiwan, said on Friday that it had recalled all of its pineapple buns after it was discovered that its shortening supplier, Chang Guann, was among the companies using recycled kitchen oil.
Hong Kong authorities will also try to trace the buyers of the tainted lard imported by Dah Chong Hong Kong Holdings from Taiwan, Ko said.
Dah Chong has recalled all related products, pending the investigation by Hong Kong health authorities.
A bakery owner said that its sales of the popular pineapple buns had dropped slightly since the scandal broke late on Thursday, although only Maxim’s Cakes was confirmed to have been using the tainted lard.
A Hong Kong importer of Taiwanese food said that while its products do not contain lard, its sales are likely to drop by 20 percent to 30 percent over the next three months because consumers will be less inclined to buy Taiwanese foods.
Among other businesses in Hong Kong affected by the scandal is Taiwan-based Black Bridge Foods (黑橋牌食品), which had to pull its sticky rice dumplings from the shelves because it was using the substandard shortening in the dumplings’ manufacturing.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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