Seven vegetable oils in Hsinchu City all tested positive for trans fats, with chromium exceeding background levels by more than tenfold
Editor's note: At 4 p.m. on January 20, the Food and Drug Administration held a press conference to explain that the oil products do not need to be taken off the shelves. For details, please click to read: "Hsinchu City Vegetable Oil Investigation: Industry Pushes Back; FDA: Products Currently Not Taken Off Shelves; Whether They Contain Trans Fats Requires On-Site Inspection"
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The oil products scandal has flared up again! The Hsinchu City Government announced this morning (1/20) the test results for six brands and seven types of vegetable frying oil, and all were found to contain the heavy metal chromium at 0.03 ppm to 0.04 ppm, on average more than ten times higher than the natural background level. In addition, six of the vegetable oils tested positive for trans fats, inconsistent with their packaging labels. Hsinchu City has required school nutrition lunches to stop using these seven oil products, and has reported the test results to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, calling on health bureaus in all localities to take the related products off the shelves.
On January 6, the Hsinchu City Government commissioned the Food Industry Research and Development Institute to test six major brands and seven types of vegetable frying oils for trans fat levels and heavy metal residues. The test results found that all seven oils contained the heavy metal chromium, averaging between 0.03 ppm and 0.04 ppm. According to the sanitation standards for edible oils and fats announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, aside from the legal tolerance limits for the heavy metals copper, mercury, arsenic, lead and erucic acid, other heavy metals such as "chromium" should not be detected or should be detected only in trace amounts.
As for trans fats, six of the seven oil products had false labeling; five oil products were labeled as containing zero trans fats but tested positive for trans fats, and one of them was labeled as 1 but tested at 1.34 g.
The seven oil products tested by Hsinchu City were Gourmet Frying Oil, Dacheng Pure Frying Oil, Taishan Fresh-Pressed Fragrant Frying Oil, Fumao Top-Grade Cooking Oil, Fumao Hanshi Yikang Frying-Resistant Oil, Fushou Premium Frying-Resistant Oil and Taisugar Shortening. These oils are all commonly used by the food service industry and street vendors.
The oil products found to have problems (photo provided by the Hsinchu City Government)