Taiwan food company boss jailed for 20 years over ‘gutter oil’ scandal
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, also fined US$1.6 million for selling on 243 tonnes of tainted oil that led foods being removed from Taiwan and Hong Kong stores and hotels
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 28 July, 2015, 4:31pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 28 July, 2015, 6:59pm
Agence France-Presse in Taipei
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, who has been jailed for 20 years over the 'gutter oil' scandal, made a public apology and drank a cup of his company's cooking oil at the height of the scandal to prove it was safe. Photo: CNA
A court has sentenced the head of a Taiwanese company to 20 years in jail for his role at the centre of a “gutter oil” scandal that gripped the island’s food industry and brought down a minister.
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, was also fined NT$50 million (US$1.6 million) for his part in selling on 243 tonnes of tainted oil collected from cookers, fryers, and grease traps, as well as recycled grease from leather processing plants.
He was first detained in September 2014 after the accusations came to light, but was released on bail in October, before being found guilty of safety violations last week. Yeh was sentenced on Friday.
Last September, at the height of the scandal, Yeh made a public apology and drank a cup of his company's cooking oil to prove it was safe.
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, drinks a cup of his company's cooking oil at the height of the scandal last September to prove it was safe. Photo: CNA
Hundreds of tonnes of cakes, bread, instant noodles, cookies, steamed buns and dumplings had to be removed from shelves in Taiwan and Hong Kong when the case surfaced, authorities said.
The contaminated fat was mixed with regular lard and distributed to clients in the food industry.
More than 1,000 restaurants, bakeries and food plants in Taiwan had used the tainted oil, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The resulting outcry led to the resignation of the country’s health minister, Chiu Wen-ta, last October.
Tsai Chi-chuan, the company’s vice-president, was also given a 20-year sentence for food safety violations, according to a statement released by the Pingtung District Court, in the south of the country.
Kuo Lieh-cheng, the manager of an unlicensed factory that supplied the company, was jailed for 12 years, while a worker from the same factory was sentenced to eight years, it said.
Taiwan’s government had pushed for an amendment to the law to increase jail terms and fines for food safety violations, as well as offering whistle-blowers more incentives in the wake of the case.
Yeh’s “gutter oil” case was the first in a string of scandals, with Taiwanese food giant Ting Hsin group accused of selling oil intended for animal food just one month later.
Two Taiwanese businessmen were then charged with using banned industrial dyes to adulterate food products in December last year, also prompting mass recalls.
