Substandard oils mixed with cheap soybean oil; Ministry of Health and Welfare newly announces 16 more cases
The Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced today that 236 oil products underwent fatty acid testing, of which 76 had a fatty acid composition that did not fully match the database. After county and city health bureaus conducted on-site inspections at the factories, 31 were confirmed to be non-compliant (in addition to the oils from Da Tong and Fu Wei Xiang, 16 newly added non-compliant oil products), 17 were compliant, and another 28 still require further confirmation. Yesterday, the district management center directors Pan Chih-kuan and Hsu Ching-hsin, who mistakenly wrote "inspection" as "removal from shelves" in official documents to the relevant county and city health bureaus, were today removed from their supervisory positions and referred to the performance review committee for investigation.
Among these 31 non-compliant products, the major manufacturers Tai Shan, Bao Su Zhai (Ting Hsin), and San Duo Shi, which had previously been named as suspected of having a non-matching fatty acid composition, were all judged compliant. Wang Che-chao, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated that fatty acid testing is only the first hurdle, and a strict standard is adopted: as long as the data shows even a slight discrepancy, the local health bureau is required to conduct an on-site inspection, but after factory verification, the businesses are cleared.
Wang Che-chao stated that in the case of Bao Su Zhai 100% pure grape seed oil, which was mistakenly reported yesterday as being blended, the factory inspection found that it was imported in original packaging from abroad and sold directly, with no sign of blending in Taiwan. However, Wang Che-chao also emphasized that for oils imported in original packaging, the offices of each country of origin in Taiwan will be asked to have the original manufacturers in each country provide certification documents and oil product information, to facilitate inspection and comparison by Taiwan officials.
Chen Ping-hui, chair professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at Fu Jen Catholic University, who participated in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's oil product investigation and analysis work, stated that in most of these non-compliant cases, cheap soybean oil was blended into the oil products; products labeled on the outer packaging as 100% oil actually contained about 30 to 40 percent soybean oil, which is false labeling.
