New Taiwan company revealed to have sold tainted lard oil as food scandal widens

[HereIsTheNews]

New Taiwan company revealed to have sold tainted lard oil as food scandal widens

Taiwan prosecutors found that Cheng I Food has been supplying tainted lard oil products to various supermarket chains in latest "gutter oil" food scandal revelations

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 08 October, 2014, 6:36pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 08 October, 2014, 6:41pm

Nectar Gan [email protected]

A takeaway restaurant in Taipei. Taiwanese are increasingly careful in buying food and eating out in the wake of a so-called gutter oil scandal. Photo: EPA

A company in southern Taiwan has been found to be selling lard oil adulterated with animal feed oil for human consumption in the latest revelations in the “gutter oil” food scandal.

Taiwan prosecutors found that Cheng I Food has been supplying tainted lard oil products to various supermarket chains, Taiwan media reported on Wednesday.

Cheng I Food is owned by Ting Hsin International Group – the parent company of Taiwanese food giant Wei-Chuan which has admitted that 12 types of its dried meat floss and meat paste were made using “gutter oil” bought from cooking oil company Chang Guann. The products were removed from shelves.

Bosses of Chang Guann have been charged with violating food safety regulations and fraudulently selling substandard oil.

Cheng I’s three lard oil products involved in the latest scandal have been ordered to be removed from shelves by authorities.

The animal feed oil used by Cheng I was provided by Hsin Hao, a one-person business run by Cheng I’s former top manager, which claimed that the oil it sold was edible lard oil, the Central News Agency reported.

From February to the end of May, Hsin Hao purchased a total of 424 tonnes of animal feed oil from three suppliers, prosecutors said.

Besides animal feed oil, Hsin Hao had also bought recycled waste oil, palm oil and a mixture of plant oil from at least seven suppliers, the Central News Agency said.

Hsin Hao’s operator was arrested in the early hours on Wednesday.

Ting Hsin International admitted that Cheng I had purchased raw oil from Hsin Hao in the past five years, but not last year. The company has started a thorough check on the products in cooperation with inspectors, the report said.

After the Kaohsiung-based Chang Guann, a leading Taiwanese supplier of edible oil, was found to have blended wasted lard oil – meant to be for industrial use – with fresh oil to produce 780 tonnes of lard oil for human consumption last month, many food companies had shifted to Cheng I for oil supplies amid safety concerns, the agency said.