Controversial oils sold by Vietnamese exporter Dai Hanh Phuc Co to Taiwanese companies have been confirmed as products for use in animal feed, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Hsu Ming-neng (許銘能) said yesterday.
Hsu said the Food and Drug Administration has received an official telegram from the Vietnamese government stating that Dai Hanh Phuc exports were all animal feed-grade oils.
At the heart of the food scare is the use of beef tallow imported by Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業), a subsidiary of the Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), from Dai Hanh Phuc.
Dai Hanh Phuc is thought to have exported a total of 5,802 tonnes of falsely labeled animal feed-grade oil — including 3,216 tonnes of lard, 2,476 tonnes of beef tallow and 110 tonnes of coconut oil — to Ting Hsin Oil over the past three years.
The discovery has led to a recall of 54 Ting Hsin Oil products and eight beef tallow items, affecting many local food companies, including leading food maker Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), which runs the nation’s 7-Eleven stores.
Earlier yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) said his ministry would begin targeting “daily necessity” foodstuffs after checks on cooking oil come to an end this month.
The ministry began checking 27 major oil and fat makers with paid-in capital of at least NT$30 million (US$987,000) in the wake of the cooking oil scandal over the past two months.
“These checks will soon end. With only a few oil makers yet to be checked, we expect the work to be completed by the end of this month,” Chiang said.
He said the ministry would next target bulk foodstuffs, such as flour and soybeans, although he added that the precise items to be scrutinized would need to be discussed internally.
“We will set priorities. The ultimate goal is to have an across-the-board examination,” he said.
Meanwhile, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said during a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee in Taipei that all waste food oil and animal fat, listed under tariff code 1518, would be banned from being imported.
When asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) whether the import of waste cooking oil should be allowed in consideration of the recent scare, Wei said that all waste oils imports — including animal and vegetable oil — are to be banned.
Wei said that in the past, waste cooking oils were imported for industrial use, such as the manufacture of biodiesel or soap. However, he said, the amount of waste food oil produced domestically is sufficient for those purposes and, therefore, no waste cooking oils would be imported after the EPA issues an ordinance before the end of this month.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) asked Wei how the EPA plans to prevent adulterated cooking oils labeled for industrial use from entering the country.
Wei said that waste cooking oils do not conform to the standards applied for industrial oils, so they are imported under tariff code 1518, which is used for importing miscellaneous oils that do not belong to any specific category.
He said the EPA has held meetings with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance about improving inspections.
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS