FDA: Ting Hsin's Vietnamese gutter oil and lard completely removed from shelves; eight beef tallow products require preventive removal

This morning, Acting Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration Chiang Yu-mei explained that regarding the portion of Ting Hsin Group's imports from Vietnam's Dai Hanh Phuc, brought in under the name of food as Vietnamese feed oil used as edible lard, there were a total of 54 problematic lard products in 2013-2014 (click here for the full list), and all of them have now been completely removed from shelves.

As for whether other oil products from Dai Hanh Phuc, such as beef tallow and coconut oil, are problematic, because the FDA asked Vietnamese authorities through diplomatic channels and as of 10 a.m. today had still not received any reply from Vietnamese authorities, Vietnamese authorities only said that an investigation is still underway. In response, the FDA today urgently invoked Article 41 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, and because these Ting Hsin products violate the principles of Article 15 of the Act, the products are being comprehensively removed from shelves on a preventive basis.

The FDA's latest finding is that oil products from Vietnam's Dai Hanh Phuc company flowed into Ting Hsin's beef tallow products; during 2013 and 2014 there were 18 batches totaling 2,476 metric tons, which over the two years were made into 8 products (as in the table below) and sold to 14 manufacturers in 11 counties and cities downstream. Nationwide health bureaus have now been notified to carry out preventive removal from shelves. At present, these 8 products are being announced to the public nationwide, and all manufacturers using the products are required to proactively report to local health bureaus by 6 p.m. tomorrow (the 23rd) at the latest, and complete removal from shelves before midnight on the 25th.

As for the coconut oil portion, it was found that Ting Hsin imported one batch of coconut oil in 2012, totaling 110 metric tons. Because more than two years have passed, and coconut oil has a shelf life of only nine months, consumers have likely already consumed all of it.