I was told it was allegations or suspicions of contamination due to widespread problems with this in Vietnam. Not confirmed yet.
Two interesting results of the oil scandal:
- The Wu family/ corporation is to sell their portion in Taipei 101. From this transaction, they will EARN billions.
To add insult to injury, the buyers are some Malaysian corporation that sounds more like a Chinese front… but anyways, the authorities, in spite of the attached importance of the iconic building, do not seem concerned at all…
- Thousands of small food related businesses went broke, with the resulting cult in real estate, prime commercial, storefront real estate. Moreover, most owners are ASKING preferably to have chain stores, like Dante, 85C,etc as tenants. You know, for safety reasons, more reliable.
Hence, the richer get richer…
Not surprised. Who do you think runs the government?
The MoEA has already issued a press statement that a sale of the shares to a Malaysian company will be vetoed.
[quote=“hsinhai78”][quote=“Icon”]
To add insult to injury, the buyers are some Malaysian corporation that sounds more like a Chinese front… but anyways, the authorities, in spite of the attached importance of the iconic building, do not seem concerned at all…
[/quote]
The MoEA has already issued a press statement that a sale of the shares to a Malaysian company will be vetoed.[/quote]
… because of the illegality of it. But certain comments from certain officials were really worrisome there.
Taiwan Luthiers:
I agree that there is little to expect from this elite, but for Pete’s sake, I did not think they would be so shameless! Really, the way they are profiting from everyone’s misfortune feels almost as if they did it on purpose.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done by design. Though it’s no longer relevant… I’m an American now.
That is not to say America’s free from corruption… but I’m almost feeling as though my health has improved coming here.
[quote=“Taiwan Luthiers”]I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done by design. Though it’s no longer relevant… I’m an American now.
That is not to say America’s free from corruption… but I’m almost feeling as though my health has improved coming here.[/quote]
better food standards. just stay away from junk food and watch the portion sizes as they tend to be bigger in the USA as you’ll be fine.
Just an update: Zhanghua court finds no evidence of heavy metals and other stuff in the oil they tested… as per government set standards. Funny how the results presented in court come out “clean”.
nextmag.com.tw/breaking-news … 9/23436511
Wu is gonna walk, no, happily trot out.
Probably they had sent the envelope to the wrong address. After four weeks everyone forgot and we continue to eat their garbage anyway.
A few developments. From CNA:
[quote]Kaohsiung, July 10 (CNA) On behalf of 20,000 students and teachers, the Consumer Protection Association (消保會) filed a class-action lawsuit Friday with a district court against edible oil makers that have sold sub-standard products to schools to make school lunch meals.
The suit was filed against two scandal-ridden companies, Cheng I Food Co. (正義股份) and Chang Guann Co. (強冠企業).
Along with the suit, the association also demanded NT$3.7 billion (US$ 119 million) in compensation for the students and teachers.
Before Friday’s move, the association had also filed another class-action suit on behalf of 3,700 consumers against Chang Chi Foodstuff Co. and in its verdict in May, the Changhua District Court ordered the company pay NT$91.05 million in compensation to a group of consumers who had bought sub-standard cooking oil produced by the company.
The association was later commissioned by people who were affected by the snowballing food scandals since last September, involving several edible oil makers that sold tainted edible oil products to more than 90 schools, affecting about 20,000 students and teachers.
[color=#FF0000]Three of the 20,000 consumers have also presented medical records that prove their health was negatively affected by the problematic oil, the association said.[/color]
The association filed the lawsuit with the Kaohsiung District Court, because Cheng-I Food Co. and Chang Guann Company are located in the southern city of Kaohsiung.
It said it will file another suit with the Tainan District Court and the Changhua District Court against Beei Hae Oil and Fats Co. (北海油脂) and Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co. (頂新製油實業), respectively.
The four producers have been accused of using ingredients not fit for human consumption, such as oils used in animal feed and oils extracted from restaurant waste, in their products. [/quote]
So, while the companies acted illegally, proving they actually did some damage is nearly impossible… and they have more resources. This class action focuses on a very specific case, but the problem is that the ones paying the bill are downstream -school administrators, small food operators- while the big factories that actually made the oil that was used by sub contractors can hardly be touched, even though they are the ones most responsible.
Now, there is this resolution:
[quote]TAIPEI, Taiwan – The Taiwan Pingtung District Court (屏東地方法院) yesterday announced sentences relating to the tainted oil scandal that surfaced last year.
In the wake of last September’s tainted oil scandal, which led to an outflow of criticism and a mistrust among consumers regarding food safety, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office began its investigation last October, with the Pingtung District Court meting out sentences yesterday that were in line with the public’s expectations.
Chang Guann Co. (強冠公司), the company that bought tainted oil that was eventually manufactured into “Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard Oil” (全統香豬油) and sold to many major food manufacturers and restaurants, was issued a fine of NT$50 million; Chang Guann Co. Chairman Yeh Wen-hsiang (葉文祥) and Deputy General Manager Tai Chi-chuan (戴啟川) were each sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. Corrupt oil manufacturer and Chang Guann supplier Kuo Lieh-cheng (郭烈成) has received a 12-year sentence.
[color=#4040FF]
The Pingtung District Court’s collegial panel found Yeh and Tai guilty of food sanitation law violations and offenses of aggravated fraud. A total of 173 companies were victimized by the culprits. The two are allowed to convert five years of their sentences into fines of NT$1,000 for every day imprisonment.[/color]
According to the Pingtung District Court, Kuo sold polluted oil to Chang Guann nine times. Kuo’s sentence includes three years and six months as well as a fine of NT$50,000 over his violation of the Guns, Explosives and Knives Control Act; his converted pistol and bullets were also confiscated. The remaining eight years and six months’ imprisonment was issued over violations of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation.
Kuo and Yeh, who were detained last year, were released on bail of NT$600,000 and NT$9.5 million on June 5, 2015 and Oct. 16, 2014, respectively.
[color=#FF0000]Kuo was an unlicensed manufacturer who sold Chang Guann Co. and Ching Wei Co. (進威公司) waste oil he collected after combining it with lard, chicken oil, fish oil and more. [/color][color=#FF00BF]His unlawful act was then investigated and reported to the authorities by a farmer from Pingtung County, whose farmland was polluted by Kuo’s factory. It later led to a series of tainted oil scandals that affected the entire nation[/color].
The court also mentioned that another related case, that of Ching Wei Co., which allegedly sold processed leather oil to feed companies, is ongoing.
So I’m really really glad the AIT allowed me to return to the states…
Now I can own guns, reload, etc… and not have to eat gutter oil.
槍炮彈藥刀械管制條例 can kiss my ***… I prefer the law that says "A well regulated militia, being necessary for a free state, the right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.
So you can ask the judge to convert your sentence into a cheap fine, allowing you to bribe your way out of contaminating food. 1,825,000 NTD (about $60,000 USD).It seems cheap to break the law in Taiwan. Just need to know the right people.
Uhhh… Do they really feed oil to the pigs? Maybe he recycled it to blend with lard!
[quote=“nonredneck”][quote=“Icon”]
The Pingdong District Court’s collegial panel found Yeh and Tai guilty of food sanitation law violations and offenses of aggravated fraud. A total of 173 companies were victimized by the culprits. The two are allowed to convert five years of their sentences into fines of NT$1,000 for every day imprisonment.
[/quote]
So you can ask the judge to convert your sentence into a cheap fine, allowing you to bribe your way out of contaminating food. 1,825,000 NTD (about $60,000 USD).It seems cheap to break the law in Taiwan. Just need to know the right people.[/quote]
If they were that desperate to make money, I don’t reckon 1000NTD a day is cheap, although it will probably just push them to come up with another creative enterprise.
Given that the Ting Hsin group bosses received not even a slap on the wrist, a few efforts to protest have fluttered, not to mention a misguided boycott attempt against their milk division, with Costco as the most harmed party so far.
Of this, the most worrisome is not really the lac of civilian involvent -everyone thinks, what for? the powerful will win anyways- but rather the kind of clout this company still has all across the spectrum, in spite of their unethical practices.
[quote]Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) Around 2,000 people took to the streets of Taipei Saturday in protest against the Ting Hsin International Group, amid concerns over food safety and a new push to boycott the controversial food conglomerate.
Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱), one of the organizers, said he and others were also advocating the establishment of a food safety association.
As part of a movement to “Destroy Ting Hsin,” the protestors called for a boycott of all products made by companies under the business group, which has been embroiled in several food safely scandals and a legal case involving violations of the country’s food safety laws.
The boycott calls have gained momentum since last month, when the Changhua District Court acquitted former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Chairman Wei Ying-chung (魏應充) of the charges.
A protester surnamed Wu, dressed in a prison uniform, said unscrupulous businessmen like those at Ting Hsin Group should be jailed.
He noted that when Japan’s Snow Brand Milk Products Co. was found to be responsible for a massive food poisoning case in 2000, the company’s top executives came forward to deal with the problem and apologized to the public.
In the 2008 milk scandal in China in which dairy products were found to be tainted with melamine, the perpetrators were severely punished, he said.
Wu said he was disappointed at the low turnout at the protest and he urged all victims of unsafe food products in Taiwan to come forward to defend their rights.
[/quote]
[quote]Huang said, he felt sad while watching consumers returning fresh milk from the brand owned by Wei Chuan Foods Corp. (味全食品), a subsidiary of the scandal-ridden Ting Hsin (頂新國際) International Group, not because of a quality problem but a protest.
In September 2014, Ting Hsin was found to have imported feed-grade fat and oils and then refined and added them to their cooking oils for human consumption. That came after it was involved in another scandal in which a supplier labeled adulterated products as pure.
The scandals badly damaged the group’s reputation, triggering a series of boycott campaigns among consumers, some local governments and schools that eventually evolved into a nationwide movement aimed at kicking Ting Hsin out of Taiwan’s market.
The boycott had waned after it was out of the media’s spotlight, until a not-guilty verdict was handed down by the Changhua District Court last week on the indictments against Wei Ying-chung (魏應充), former chairman of Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co., and six others charged for allegedly violating the country’s food safety laws.
In the reignited campaign, some Internet users urged consumers to return the Lin Feng Ying (林鳯營)-brand of milk, made by Wei Chuan, and demand a refund as soon as they buy the products at Costco, a U.S-based hypermarket chain known for giving refunds easily.
But some people have criticized the campaign as wasteful because there is no safety problem with the milk. Once the milk is returned to Costco, however, it is destroyed, even though it is perfectly safe for consumption.
Huang urged the Department of Animal Industry under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture to take measures to have Wei Chuan reduce its raw milk procurement to prevent milk from local dairy farms from being wasted due to the new wave of “Destroying Ting Hsin” movement.
Wei Chuan now holds 25 percent of all raw milk procurement amounts among food companies in Taiwan, making it the second largest buyer, trailing behind Uni-President Enterprises Corp. (34 percent) but staying ahead of Kuang Chuan Dairy Co. (22 percent), according to Wang Chung-shu (王忠恕), deputy chief of the Department of Animal Industry.
Before the first wave of the nationwide anti-Ting Hsin boycott was launched last year, Wei Chuan was the largest raw milk buyer, holding a 34.9 percent market share, followed by Uni-President’s 30.3 percent and Kuang Chuan’s 19.1 percent, Wang told CNA Friday.
[/quote]
Taichung investigates ‘youtiao’ maker
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/07/11/2003650813
[quote]A small-scale Taichung food producer that specializes in deep fried dough sticks (youtiao, 油條), has reportedly been producing its products in an extremely dirty environment and using old oil, and city health authorities have launched an investigation.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that journalists responding to tips visited a youtiao factory in the city’s Dali District (大里) in late May and on Saturday, and discovered the factory was extremely dirty and lacked pollution-prevention measures.
In addition, the man frying the youtiao was only half-dressed, and the frying oil was as dark and thick as old engine oil, the report said.
The youtiao were removed from the frier, placed in a filthy basket on the ground and cooled by a roadside fan before the man gathered the cool sticks in his bare hands and put them in plastic bags, the newspaper reported.
The Apple Daily reporters estimated that the man was frying more than 100 youtiao an hour, so the factory could be producing more than 1,000 per day.
It quoted the man as saying he replaced the frying oil “when he felt like it,” and that wholesalers or shops came to collect bags of youtiao from him.
<…>[/quote]
(edit) Found some photos googling for 油條廠台中蘋果日報
Every time is such a case people I know will say “How come is like this?”…acting surprised Taiwan still has this issue. But when I push them to say if they are really surprised their morning treats are prepared in filthy conditions they just smile and say “But tastes very good.” My conclusion is they would prefer to have clean food but is not that important to them.
I have a ‘pet rat’ restaurant across the street and one of those black youtiao places around the corner. Places do a roaring trade.
Sigh. Not even a day in jail…
Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) Wei Ying-chung (魏應充), former chairman of Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co. (頂新), was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for tax evasion.
However, Wei can reduce or avoid serving his prison term by paying a fine of NT$3,000 for each day of the sentence, according to the Changhua District Court sentence.
The company’s accountant, Chen Hsi-hsun (陳錫勳), was sentenced to 22 months in prison, which can be converted into a fine of NT$1,000 per day, the court ruled.
According Changhua District prosecutors, Ting Hsin failed to issue uniform invoices for sales of goods worth NT$732 million between January 2006 and December 2013, in an attempt to evade taxes.
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Yeah it’s just fucking pathetic. So sick of this place.
But this case is about his tax evasion, not gutter oil (though they are related). I think they couldn’t find enough evidence for the oil thing but I’m not sure.
So that’s how it works in Taiwan, eh? You can literally buy your way out of jail if you have enough Guanxi.