Beihai oil imports of inedible tallow for feed and inedible mixed animal and vegetable oils have entered the edible oil supply
While Ting Hsin and Uni-President were drawing everyone's attention, October 13 confirmed that the feed oil Uni-President had purchased from Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co. did not enter food use, but yesterday the Tainan District Prosecutors Office confirmed that Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co., Ltd. and Hsieh Ching Enterprise Co., Ltd., in order to reduce costs, bought inedible mixed animal and vegetable oil imported by Jin Hong Trading Co., Fu Long Oil & Fat Co., and Jin Long Trading Co.
In addition, Pei Hai and Hsieh Ching also separately imported feed-grade beef tallow and inedible mixed animal and vegetable oil, totaling about 1427 tonnes. After deducting the amount sold to downstream manufacturers, roughly 582 tonnes of inedible oil and feed oil were mixed into about 693 tonnes of edible oil, and after refining, about 1275 tonnes of products such as edible lard have been made and sold to major downstream manufacturers.
The Tainan City Government Health Bureau confirmed that these inedible oils and feed oils were mainly made into 6 lard products (as in the attached table). These have now been handed to the health bureaus of each county and city for inspection, and any manufacturer that uses or sells these 6 oil products should, before 6 p.m. on the 5th, voluntarily report to its local health bureau the product name, specifications, batch number, expiry date, quantity, and so on, with recovery and removal from shelves expected to be completed before midnight on the 7th.
On October 13, the Food and Drug Administration issued a press release explaining that the feed oil, item number 1518, that Uni-President bought from Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co. did not enter edible oil. Even so, the Tainan City Government Health Bureau had already gone to Pei Hai on September 25 on its own initiative to inspect, suspecting that the company's non-edible oil and feed oil were being mixed into edible oil and refined into edible lard. Many suspicious points were found that day, including the fake invoices that the couple surnamed Lu told prosecutors they had bought in order to evade taxes, which did not match on checking, and many other problems that could not be clarified.
Therefore, on September 29 and 30, the Tainan City Government Health Bureau again went to Pei Hai together with the Food and Drug Administration and the Tainan District Prosecutors Office, but because the company's upstream and downstream information was unclear, the whole case was transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutors Office for investigation. However, by October 12, the Pei Hai case still had no follow-up, so the Tainan City Government Health Bureau went to Pei Hai again, on the spot demanding that it stop selling, and sealing the products made from the 50 tonnes of oil on site.
The heads of both Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co. and Hsieh Ching Trading Co. are registered as Lu Huang Li-hua, but the actual operator is her husband Lu Ching-hsieh. Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co. was recently accused by Legislator Lin Shu-fen of selling feed oil to Uni-President, but prosecutors later proved that these feed oils were all used as feed. On October 18, Lu Huang Li-hua was released on bail of NT$200,000 by ruling, and Lu Ching-hsieh was detained and barred from visits.
Prosecutor Kuo Wen-li filed an objection, holding that the defendants were still suspected of colluding with witnesses and destroying, forging or altering evidence, and ruled for detention and no visits. Later, after prosecutors Kuo Wen-li, Feng Chun-chieh, and Huang Hsin-yung successively summoned employees, drivers and many other staff of the two companies, and reviewed import and export declaration forms, uniform invoices and other materials, it was determined yesterday that the Lu couple were suspected of jointly, during the 103rd year of the Republic (2014), in order to reduce costs, buying about 639 tonnes of inedible mixed animal and vegetable oil imported by Jin Hong Trading Co., Fu Long Oil & Fat Co., and Jin Long Trading Co.
In addition, Pei Hai imported about 584 tonnes of feed-grade beef tallow and inedible mixed animal and vegetable oil, and Hsieh Ching imported about 150 tonnes of feed-grade beef tallow, totaling about 1427 tonnes. After deducting the portion sold to downstream manufacturers, about 582 tonnes of inedible oil and feed oil were mixed into about 693 tonnes of edible oil, and through refining about 1275 tonnes of products such as edible lard were made, involving the offense of fraudulently obtaining property under Article 339, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, as well as the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation.
Yesterday the Tainan District Prosecutors Office announced that Pei Hai Oil & Fat Co. (Hsieh Ching Enterprise Co., Ltd.) was suspected of adulterating and mixing in non-food-grade feed oil, and then making it into lard, and mandatorily removed from shelves 6 major items (as in the attached table), including Hsin Wan Hsiang Traditional Fragrant Lard, Old-Time Fragrant Lard, Pei Hai Fragrant Lard, Refined Oil, Hao Yu Dao Refined Oil, and White Clove Fragrant Lard series, in oil products with different packaging such as round lids, square lids, cartons and iron drums. Jiang Yu-mei, acting director-general of the Food and Drug Administration, said that these downstream lists have been handed to the health bureaus of each county and city for inspection assistance, and any manufacturer that uses or sells these 6 oil products should, before 6 p.m. on the 5th, voluntarily report to its local health bureau the product name, specifications, batch number, expiry date, quantity, and so on, with recovery and removal from shelves expected to be completed before midnight on the 7th.
