Rich Flavors township problematic oil products increased to 28 items; Datong again exposed for using expired ingredients to make shacha sauce

The tainted cooking oil scandal continues to grow. After the New Taipei City Health Department yesterday found that the food company Flavor Full had blended cottonseed oil into 24 domestic cooking oil products, and that one "blended peanut oil" product contained added peanut flavoring that was not labeled, today the Changhua County Health Department found that three Flavor Full products -- "Premium Black Sesame Oil," "Special-Grade Black Sesame Oil" and "Top-Grade Black Sesame Oil" -- were labeled as pure black sesame oil but had been adulterated with 0.5% to 37% yellow sesame oil. Samples were sent to the Food and Drug Administration for testing today.

According to the results of yesterday's investigation by the New Taipei City Health Department, the Taipei City Health Department inspected school lunches and found that 94 elementary and junior high schools had used Flavor Full-related cooking oil products in their lunches, and the Health Department has demanded that vendors replace them all.

In addition, Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wei Ming-ku held a press conference today claiming that he had received a tip-off from a former employee who had already left the company, alleging that the ingredients of Datong satay sauce -- peanuts, shiitake mushrooms and fish -- were made from wet broad beans imported from Vietnam, moldy shiitake mushroom stubs, and imported frozen fish that had been expired for as long as 20 years.

Wei Ming-ku sharply criticized the situation, saying that if such expired ingredients are deep-fried at high temperatures, they will produce aflatoxin; eating them could cause liver cancer and also trigger symptoms such as tissue hemorrhage and loss of appetite, posing a great danger to human health. At present, these expired ingredients are all stored in the freezer on the 4th floor of the Datong sightseeing factory, and he demanded that the competent authorities immediately go there to investigate and inspect.

In response to the content of Wei Ming-ku's allegations, the Changhua County Health Department has launched an investigation. Lin Yu-fen, head of the Food Hygiene Division, also stated that the Flavor Full "Premium Black Sesame Oil" seized this time was mixed with 37% yellow sesame oil, the "Special-Grade Black Sesame Oil" was mixed with 28% yellow sesame oil, and the "Top-Grade Black Sesame Oil" was mixed with 0.5% yellow sesame oil. The operator claimed that because pure black sesame oil has a bitter taste, different proportions of yellow sesame oil were added to avoid the bitterness.

Lin Yu-fen pointed out that today the three black sesame oil products were sent to the Food and Drug Administration for testing, and the relevant information was sent to the New Taipei City Government Health Department for reference.

According to the results of investigations by the New Taipei City and Changhua County Health Departments, the list of problematic Flavor Full cooking oil products is as follows:

(Source: New Taipei City and Changhua County Health Departments)