Taisugar Implicated In Cooking Oil Row as Minister Rejects Claims of Cover-Up
By Kris Ma/Irene Lin
The political fallout from Taiwan's tainted cooking oil scandal continues to escalate as it emerges that state-run Taisugar detected high levels of the carcinogen benzopyrene (BaP) in Central Union Oil shipments as early as May. While opposition lawmakers accuse authorities of shielding state enterprises, Health Minister Shih Chung-liang has strongly rejected accusations of a cover-up.
A food safety scandal continues to gain momentum...
Lawmakers and health authorities met Wednesday to discuss the case of tainted cooking oil that exploded in early July and is still bubbling on as new cases come to light and more parties are implicated.
On the top of the agenda is the latest company under scrutiny, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation or Taisugar...
Back in May, the company returned a batch of semi-processed oil bought from manufacturer Central Union Oil after detecting an illegal amount of the carcinogenic chemical benzopyrene, or BaP. But Taisugar didn’t notify authorities about it until last week.
WANG YU-MIN, LEGISLATOR (KMT):
"Carcinogens were found in the raw materials. Why did they not feel the need to report it? What people find truly absurd is that all of our government departments are shielding one another, even praising Taisugar for setting an example."
LIN YUE-CHIN, LEGISLATOR (DPP):
"If there is oversight, then please apply the same standard to both the central and local governments. Don't just single out the central government for the headlines. Please also cite the Taichung City Government. Don't focus on just one party. The rights, duties and responsibilities of the central and local authorities and businesses should all be clearly stated."
Health minister Shih Chung-liang says the law only requires food producers to report problems in goods that are ready for store shelves... not raw materials or semi-processed products.
Shih says the rules could be changed to address this in the future. But for now, he rejects accusations of a government cover-up.
SHIH CHUNG-LIANG, HEALTH MINISTER:
"The ones attempting cover-up are Central Union Oil Corp. along with Taisun, Formosa Oilseed Processing Co. and Fwusow, who are under investigation. Central authorities have never covered anything up and we cannot accept such twisted accusations."
More than three thousand consumers plan to sue the manufacturer at the center of this case.
Meanwhile, more cooking oil containing the carcinogen has been recalled in southern Taiwan...
LI TSUEY-FONG, PUBLIC HEALTH BUREAU, TAINAN CITY GOVERNMENT:
"The manufacturer bought camellia seeds from the Jin Pin Fang food company in Taichung on March 1. We’ve transferred the case to the Taichung City Government to trace the source of the camellia seeds."
Authorities are investigating one supplier of camellia seeds and two manufacturers...
But as new leads emerge... more gaps in Taiwan's food safety regulations are coming to light... setting the stage for a bigger political storm and public outcry ahead.
