Several National Taiwan University professors yesterday criticized the government’s efforts to crack down on food safety violations, saying that the snowballing recycled waste oil scandal highlights a lack of inter-ministerial cooperation and the ineffectiveness of the food safety management system.
Their remarks came one day after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the results of laboratory tests that found the edible lard oil manufactured by Greater Kaohsiung-based Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), which included recycled waste oil collected from restaurant fryers, met legal standards.
“The oil scandal pertains to three ministries: the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which governs factory registration; the Environmental Protection Administration [EPA], which regulates ordinary business waste such as waste cooking oil; and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which manages edible oil products,” Institute of Environmental Health professor Chen Chia-yang (陳家揚) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Restaurants that produce waste cooking oil are legally required to inform the EPA about the firms they hire to recycle their oil and the amount that is taken away on each trip, while the recycling companies must submit records on the types and quantity of oil they handle to the economic affairs ministry.
Chang Guann allegedly used waste oil provided by Kuo Lieh-cheng (郭烈成), the owner of an unlicensed factory in Pingtung County, who is believed to have purchased the oil from waste recycler Hu Hsin-te (胡信德), Chen said.
“If the EPA and Ministry of Economic Affairs had cross-checked their records, they should have had no trouble spotting companies that sold or purchased abnormal amounts of the waste oil,” Chen said.
Reducing risks to food safety is not just a job for the FDA, it requires a concerted effort by all relevant government agencies, Chen said.
Wu Kuen-yuh (吳焜裕), a professor at the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, said the reason the FDA’s standard lab tests have detected so few problems in the current and previous food scandals is because the government only regulates 800 kinds of food additives and chemicals when there are more than 70,000 being used nationwide.
“In addition, the failure of police investigators to notify the FDA and local health departments the minute they discovered the [alleged] illegal sales of waste cooking oil and the decision to wait four months to do so underlines the lack of cooperation and coordination between agencies,” Wu said.
College of Public Health dean Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅) said that if the government is serious about eliminating illegal practices in the food industry, it should increase the number of random, unannounced inspections of food manufacturers, rather than relying on the companies’ self-monitoring.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS