[quote=“headhonchoII”]Well at least the MRT is run well, look at it that way. and from the reaction of my
coworkers they are certainly NOT happy or satisfied with eating gutter oil in their snacks. BUt Taiwanese are slow to show their anger and not good at boycotting places.[/quote]
The problem is that they might care about oil quality now but they don’t care if their vegetables are grown on an old factory site or that their fruit is sprayed with pesticides that would be banned in every developed country or a myriad of other shady things. And tbh it’s difficult to have any idea about the source for the average consumer. But there is no pressure on the gov’t to actually ensure food quality. The gov’t has basically been given a free pass to look the other way. The people need to hold the gov’t accountable. The gov’t needs to do something itself and also hold the corporation accountable. And the corporation needs to hold the supplier all the way down to the farmer accountable. Right now there are 5-10 steps between farmer/producer and the supermarket and each link in the chain can just throw up their arms and say ‘it’s not my job to make sure this is a quality product’.
Various departments in government are clueless and simply show they are doing something by spending money on useless programs. Want organic food? Let’s spend our tax money to hold classes to teach city slickers how to grow organic food. Do these city slickers even own (or rent) land to grow food? No. Meanwhile, the current struggling organic farmers with plenty of experience could use some help.
It’s like that stupid program to recycle kitchen waste into pig feed without any control of what people dump into the bin … some of the bins aren’t even marked properly. And where does the used domestic kitchen oil/fat end up for recycling? Do some morons put used motor oil in there just to get rid of it?
Actually, on that point - our apartment building has two bins, one with a pig picture, and the other with a produce picture. What should I do with the used cooking oil?
Actually, on that point - our apartment building has two bins, one with a pig picture, and the other with a produce picture. What should I do with the used cooking oil?
flushing down the toilet ??
(happening quite often due to some morons living our building)
Back to serious:
We are collecting it in a separate sealed bin and give it weekly to a food stall, who kindly is taking it from us.
We still keep the faith that he is handling the waste well …
Actually, on that point - our apartment building has two bins, one with a pig picture, and the other with a produce picture. What should I do with the used cooking oil?[/quote]
The used oil is actually collected with the recycling truck behind the garbage truck where I live … well if you don’t live in a community with their own garbage collecting area. But what happens after that with the oil/fat …
[quote=“headhonchoII”]Well at least the MRT is run well, look at it that way. and from the reaction of my
coworkers they are certainly NOT happy or satisfied with eating gutter oil in their snacks. BUt Taiwanese are slow to show their anger and not good at boycotting places.[/quote]
was referring to the govt and bossman’s comments on this whole affair. the govt is also the one responsible for cleaning up the mrt -the biggest priority and pride of the whole nation. even though people have followed suit. if they cleared up the food safety and scooters too people would also follow. in china recently there has been a few news storys of kids refusing to give up their priority seat to elderly people. situation would likely be the same in taiwan if the government didn’t fix up that area.
it is nice to be able to travel in comfort around people with good public transport manners but the same people try to kill me when i cross the road or purchase their instant noodles. i care more about living than travelling in comfort.
Reminds me of the “Dirty Jobs” episode of pig feed coming from restaurants in Las Vegas. They sort it on converor belts. No metals, no plastics. I’m sure Taiwanese recyclers do this.
But… but… MOS is ‘natural’, it’s all over their wall decorations?! I think their slogan is ‘Ocean fresh’ or something like that? What, of all fast food places, MOS… really?
That’s why there were so many reported cases of food poisoning there![/quote]
I doubt the oil led to food poisoning itself but rather that Mos Burger’s carefree food handling and quality control meant that they bought recycled oil as part of their business strategy (cheap input costs). I would be shocked if this was the only shady dealing that Mos Burger or any of the fast (crap) food places are involved in.
the problem with the pig feed here is there is no monitoring, it’s usually done on an ad hoc basis. anything could be thrown in it. They boil the stuff and skim it I believe, at least that’s what I saw at a free range pig farm I visited a while back.
Avoiding pork would be a good solution in my book to both health and animal rights issues.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]the problem with the pig feed here is there is no monitoring, it’s usually done on an ad hoc basis. anything could be thrown in it. They boil the stuff and skim it I believe, at least that’s what I saw at a free range pig farm I visited a while back.
Avoiding pork would be a good solution in my book to both health and animal rights issues.[/quote]
Boiling is not enough to kill some mold spores … they need to be superheated … I think botulisme is one of the most resistant.
As this scandal reaches every part of society - government, business and your average consumer - and all are either clueless or unwilling to do something about it, I think it is safe to say that the scandal is a symptom of the ignorance that plagues Taiwanese.
Food labelling is one of such issues: most nutrition and ingredient information is printed in small text, low contrast colors. I have recently bought a water bottle where the transparent plastic label had information such as content, mineral composition and source printed in light grey. Needless to say one cannot read it. Neither KMT, nor DPP, nor the general public seem to have any problem with that. But knowing what you eat and drink is the first step of holding producers accountable.
Related to that issue are food regulations in general. Why is a 10% fruit content beverage like Minute Maid allowed to be called “Orange Juice”? The fruit content is printed in medium contrast orange on light orange - needless to say one has to look closely to even see it.
Another issue is devolution in Taiwan. Why would anyone give authority over food inspections to local authorities? Obviously any local government of a rural or not so well off county is happy for the job opportunities that are created by food manufacturers. Combine that with the typical petty corruption and it’s obvious why control mechanisms have failed. There should be a central unit responsible for defining standards and doing inspections as well as levying fines. Such a central unit would be unaffected by any local politics and petty corruption.
