The Council of Agriculture announces that in the testing of Chin Wei's and downstream oil products and feed, the lead content in some oil products was slightly high but did not exceed the EU limit.
At noon the Council of Agriculture released the results of animal fats and feed tests from Pingtung-based Jinwei Company and downstream feed manufacturers. Among the 14 fat samples and 5 compound feed samples, it was initially shown that the harmful heavy metals in the feed did not exceed the EU maximum limits, but the lead content in 3 animal fat samples exceeded the standard for edible oil. However, the current regulations for feed-use fats do not set a standard for lead, and the Council of Agriculture will convene a meeting of experts and scholars next Monday to discuss the matter.
Of these 14 animal fat samples, 8 came from Jinwei Company's oil tanks and 6 came from downstream manufacturers' stock fats. Except for 1 animal fat sample that had not yet been fully tested, the remaining 13 samples all complied with the domestic national standards for animal fats used in feed. However, if judged again by the heavy metal limits for edible fats set by the Food and Drug Administration, 3 animal fat samples had lead content exceeding the stipulated 0.1 ppm.
These 3 animal fat samples exceeding the lead limit for edible fats were, respectively, the beef tallow and molasses mixture from Taiwan Fuji Company at 0.94 ppm, the animal fat from Shengfu at 0.417 ppm, and the lard from Yuli at 0.173 ppm. However, given that Taiwan, China has not yet set a limit on the lead content of animal fats used in feed, the Animal Husbandry Division of the Council of Agriculture said it will convene an expert meeting to discuss whether to follow the regulations for edible fats and also set a lead content limit for animal fats used in feed.
As for other heavy metals, such as arsenic, copper, zinc and mercury, the detected amounts all complied with the standards for animal fats used in feed and edible fats; nickel and chromium, which are suspected to come from the leather oil manufacturing process, although neither feed-use nor edible fats have detected limit regulations, the tested animal fat samples either showed no detection or were present only in trace amounts.
As for the acid value, 7 animal fat samples exceeded the relevant regulations for edible oil products, but there is currently no standard for this in feed-use fats, so it will also be discussed at the expert meeting whether the acid value should also be listed as a national standard test item for animal fats used in feed.
The Council of Agriculture also tested these 14 animal fat samples for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), with values ranging from 1 to 10.23 ug/kg. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered carcinogenic and are presumed to possibly come from waste cooking oil.
As for the 5 compound feed samples, whether in terms of harmful heavy metals, aflatoxins or other items, they all complied with our national standards and the EU maximum limits.
Zhu Qingcheng, deputy director of the Council of Agriculture, said that regardless of whether the test results meet the standards, as long as the animal fats used in feed by downstream manufacturers come from the factory of Guo Liecheng in Pingtung, because their sources are complex and include swill oil, waste cooking oil and leather oil, they must be sealed and destroyed.