Justice feed oil scandal affects 363 downstream businesses, self-reporting required by tomorrow afternoon
The Zheng Yi cooking-oil scandal keeps snowballing. This morning the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau published 68 oil products into which Zheng Yi is suspected of having mixed feed oil. In the evening the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that 363 downstream businesses are known to have been supplied, and that by 6 p.m. tomorrow, any business that has used these 68 oils must report to its local health bureau on its own initiative, or face a fine of 3 to 3,000,000 yuan. From the 13th, none of these products may be seen on shelves; violators face fines of 60,000 to 50,000,000 yuan. Among those hit so far are well-known companies such as Fullon Hotels and the Wowprime group.
Feed oil implicated 363 downstream businesses
Wu Jung-ho, former marketing director of Zheng Yi, a company under the Ting Hsin group, set up Sin Hao Food on his own and is suspected of buying feed oil and passing it off as food-grade oil sold back to his former employer. Yesterday the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau inspected the Sin Hao Renwu plant and worked through the night to identify 68 items possibly contaminated with feed oil, and by this afternoon had a preliminary list of 363 downstream businesses.
But the FDA had still not received a definitive downstream list, and as usual it set a "D-day", requiring businesses that used these 63 oil products to report the product name, specification, batch number and expiry date to their local health bureau on their own initiative before 6 p.m. tomorrow.
Acting Director-General Chiang Yu-mei said that in the previous gutter-oil incident, more than half of the stores reported on their own initiative; those who fail to cooperate with oil inspections or make false reports can be fined 3 to 3,000,000 yuan. From the early hours of the 12th, all products using these 68 oils must be taken off the shelves, and the next day health bureaus everywhere will send inspectors; violators face fines of 60,000 to 50,000,000 yuan.
Chiang Yu-mei said that before the end of October, oil importers and manufacturers must register their oil product data on the FDA's "Non-registration is not allowed" website, after which it will be cross-checked with the food cloud to track the flow of oil products.
The Tainan District Prosecutors Office, which is handling the case, and the Kaohsiung Health Bureau, which inspected the plant, were both unwilling to comment much publicly today. The Tainan prosecutors said the investigation is still ongoing and further news will be announced when available; the Kaohsiung Health Bureau said it is clarifying how far the downstream impact reaches, but will first send the data to the central authorities and, after confirmation, have the FDA release it uniformly.
Fullon Hotels and Wowprime hit again
Several well-known businesses have now publicly admitted on their own to using Zheng Yi oil products. Last time Chef A-Chi knelt and apologised after a product he endorsed was tainted with gutter oil, and this time Fullon Hotels, where he serves as executive head chef, has been hit again; this morning he came out to a press conference choking up, and besides saying his own ability was insufficient, he also demanded of Ting Hsin chairman Wei Ying-chun, "How can you sleep at night?", and said the hotel will switch entirely to rendering its own lard in future.
After last time's use of gutter oil at "Manka Coffee", the Wowprime group has again been confirmed by the Taichung City Health Bureau to have used Zheng Yi oil products, in four items: "Ikki New Japanese Cuisine" salmon season rice, "Wang Steak" corn chowder, "Tasty Steak" freshly grilled steak, and "Tao Ban Wu" seared steak.
Wowprime also issued a statement saying that since 11 September this year it had not used domestic lard. The Taichung City Health Bureau's response to Wowprime was that from March to 10 September this year it had used a total of 87 barrels of Zheng Yi fragrant lard in 16 kg packs, and after the gutter-oil scandal broke on 13 September it had returned 1 barrel.
Food Safety Act to be fought over again next week, expected to pass this session
This Wednesday and Thursday the Legislative Yuan's Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee reviewed the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation. Legislators from both the ruling and opposition camps said that listed and OTC food companies that raise public funds must bear a greater social responsibility and should set up their own laboratories, and Chiang Yu-mei said she strongly agreed and would draft related regulations. But legislator Tien Chiu-chin argued that channel operators, who charge high shelf-placement fees, must also bear a certain responsibility and cannot casually stock goods and then claim to be innocent victims. This clause has not yet reached consensus and is left for review next week.
Because the Zheng Yi mixed-oil case broke on Wednesday, a lot of time was spent on questioning, and by the time Thursday's session adjourned only Article 8 had been amended, though legislators from both camps have consensus on amending the law. KMT convener Wang Yu-min said the Food Safety Act would be scheduled for review again next Monday, and DPP convener Tien Chiu-chin also said the Food Safety Act is drawing nationwide attention and the committee must discuss it properly: "If we don't finish next week, I can schedule it the week after; it must pass this session."