The feed oil scandal escalates: prosecutors suspect Yongcheng of passing off waste cooking oil as lard for shipment

Text by NewsMarket reporters Wang Wen-hao and Lin Hui-chen

CommonWealth Magazine today published an interview with former Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Wen-ta, pointing out that there are still 2 unexploded bombs in the feed oil incident. Jiang Yu-mei, acting Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration, explained that these 2 are Yongcheng Materials and Xuriyou Trading Co. in Chiayi. Yongcheng is a major domestic supplier of lard, and this year it sold a total of 1,600 tonnes of lard to Justice Company through Xuriyou Trading Co. When the FDA investigated, it found that the transaction records of Xuriyou Trading Co. and Yongcheng Materials did not match, and on September 30 the case was transferred to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for investigation.

Coincidentally, when reporters entered the commercial registration database of the Commercial Affairs Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to search, they found that Xuriyou Trading Co. ceased business on September 26 this year, exactly after the poor-quality lard incident involving Chang Guann broke out in early September and the Chiayi County Government inspected Yongcheng Materials' temporarily registered factory in Liujiao Township on the 10th. The timing was coincidental and aroused suspicion. Not only Xuriyou, but Yongcheng Materials also voluntarily stopped operating, so that when prosecutors and investigators searched, they found nothing.

According to the registration data of the Commercial Affairs Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Xuriyou Trading Co. is in the feed wholesale business, approved for establishment on October 18, 2010, with a person surnamed Fu as the responsible person and capital of only 200,000. On September 10 this year, the Chiayi County Government had searched Yongcheng Materials, but did not find evidence that feed had flowed into edible oil. In addition, Yongcheng Materials and Xuriyou happened to voluntarily cease business at the same time, so the entire case was transferred to the Chiayi District Prosecutors Office for investigation.