A link to the new fake products you might get in supermarket including pudding, drinks, and biscuits/cookies.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=2361759
I feel actually happy about all this and I can’t wait to see more stuff coming up. People have the right to get real food.
I can’t wait for them to start visiting bakeries and explain to people the systematic use of pre-mix. 
I noticed this yesterday with strawberry milk tea. No strawberries listed anywhere in the ingredients.
Still, this shouldn’t be surprising for anyone.
Also, it’s worth keeping a skeptical mind over any food-related issues reported by Taiwan News as (I believe) it’s run by the I-mei group. Vested interests and such.
Wow wow didn’t knew that. :bravo:
Time to start making real baked goods and puddings from scratch it seems. But then, in the west we’re guilty as well, all the baker’s suppliers use ‘fake’ product mixes with lots of ingredients that have no place in the product and they are readily adopted and adapted in Taiwan for local use.
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That’s exactly what I want. Some fresh baked goods from scratch. And that is exactly what my customers have. 
As you said in the west many are guilty too… But not even half of them.
Have a walk at 5 in the morning and you will smell and see bakers working. Ahhh, the smell of fresh bread!! Missing it so much. Knock a door and get your baguette. That’s what I was doing when I was student.
As you may know is that bakers normally work from midnight to 6 for the preparations of breads and related bakery products.
Not soo many overhere. 
You should see the suppliers stuff here. I have got 90% of the goods in the books are pre-mix. Way too many. And super cheap. Disgusting for my profession.
And I believe that all this stuff is specially made for Asian market. Who in the west gonna look for a crime brûlée pre-mix or a simple mousse pre-mix???
In fact, our mummies since babies were preparing this stuff for us and from scratch… Not a difficult task.
Maybe because everyone in the west have an oven at home? I don’t really get the point of having all this pre-mixes.
That’s exactly what I want. Some fresh baked goods from scratch. And that is exactly what my customers have.
As you said in the west many are guilty too… But not even half of them.
Have a walk at 5 in the morning and you will smell and see bakers working. Ahhh, the smell of fresh bread!! Missing it so much. Knock a door and get your baguette. That’s what I was doing when I was student.
As you may know is that bakers normally work from midnight to 6 for the preparations of breads and related bakery products.
Not soo many overhere.
You should see the suppliers stuff here. I have got 90% of the goods in the books are pre-mix. Way too many. And super cheap. Disgusting for my profession.
And I believe that all this stuff is specially made for Asian market. Who in the west gonna look for a crime brûlée pre-mix or a simple mousse pre-mix???
In fact, our mummies since babies were preparing this stuff for us and from scratch… Not a difficult task.
Maybe because everyone in the west have an oven at home? I don’t really get the point of having all this pre-mixes.[/quote]
You’d be surprised when you see in the west how many bakers, bistro-cafes, eateries etc. are using pre-made stuff and mixes, frozen doughs and cakes, biscuits, improvers and additives, and other crap in their products … even instant creme brulee. Reason, high cost of labor and lack of personnel available because many don’t want to work nights and weekends. There is a whole industry growing around it … just for convenience.
I can understand canned fruit fillings for pies as many fruits or only seasonal, but cold pudding mixes, mousses and other stuff that’s easily made … no way. For creme brulee you don’t even need an oven.
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Told you about my friend who got her baker’s license here. Her tests read like Chemistry 501, had Math so advanced to calculate the additives… Yuck. That is the official, government approved, “right” way of making bread on The Island.
Thank goodness she also has training abroad and with local especialists who appreciate a good, old fashioned sourdough. Even her local instructors were telling her “this is just to pass the test”. So what’s the point?
And from bread, we go to tea drinks, meals, … etc. Then we ask ourselves why so much poison in the food? Because the system demands it.
[quote=“Icon”]Told you about my friend who got her baker’s license here. Her tests read like Chemistry 501, had Math so advanced to calculate the additives… Yuck. That is the official, government approved, “right” way of making bread on The Island.
Thank goodness she also has training abroad and with local especialists who appreciate a good, old fashioned sourdough. Even her local instructors were telling her “this is just to pass the test”. So what’s the point?
And from bread, we go to tea drinks, meals, … etc. Then we ask ourselves why so much poison in the food? Because the system demands it.[/quote]
Exactly the same situation with farming. We have chemicals in our “farm fresh” meat and vegetables because the system demands it.
Hokwongwei said :
The Taiwan News is owned by I-Mei. However, I have worked out at the I-Mei factory in Taoyuan. They run a VERY tight ship. Way before any of these scandals were breaking – even before the cloudy drink stuff – I-Mei had on-site labs and and a solid well-supported team of boffins testing everything thoroughly as a matter of course. I can honestly say that you’re onto a pretty safe bet with their products. I don’t follow these things slavishly but I haven’t noticed any I-Mei products being flagged.
Another reason to buy their stuff, although somewhat off-topic, is that they sponsor several environmental projects (including the turtle sanctuary on Penghu, paying for tree surgeons to care for old endangered trees in Tainan, helping to fund an anti-shark finning campaign etc.) . They are surprisingly shy about publicizing these things though.
To clarify, I wasn’t pointing the finger at I-mei. (I actually have a very good impression of the company and stopped by a restaurant in Zhongli yesterday just because it said it’s run by I-mei.) I just meant to say that they could perhaps put extra emphasis on issues like food safety because it would benefit them if you stop buying from competitors. Which is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to your own health. Just putting it out there.
[quote=“brobronek”]…Who in the west gonna look for a crime brûlée pre-mix or a simple mousse pre-mix???
In fact, our mummies since babies were preparing this stuff for us and from scratch… Not a difficult task.
Maybe because everyone in the west have an oven at home? I don’t really get the point of having all this pre-mixes.[/quote]
Sorry but what world do you live in? No offense but what you described hasn’t been the case even in the west for 40 years. Instant pudding has been around since the 50s. And who do you think invented Wonder Bread? Or cereals that are 90% sugar and have no cereal at all in them? Or pink slime sold as lean beef? Or beef for that matter which has to be well cooked as it almost always is contaminated?
Or how about Cheez Whiz, which incidentally stopped adding cheese to its recipe about 2 decades ago.
Even regular cheese is almost all artificially aged.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“brobronek”]…Who in the west gonna look for a crime brûlée pre-mix or a simple mousse pre-mix???
In fact, our mummies since babies were preparing this stuff for us and from scratch… Not a difficult task.
Maybe because everyone in the west have an oven at home? I don’t really get the point of having all this pre-mixes.[/quote]
Sorry but what world do you live in? No offense but what you described hasn’t been the case even in the west for 40 years. Instant pudding has been around since the 50s. And who do you think invented Wonder Bread? Or cereals that are 90% sugar and have no cereal at all in them? Or pink slime sold as lean beef? Or beef for that matter which has to be well cooked as it almost always is contaminated?
Or how about Cheez Whiz, which incidentally stopped adding cheese to its recipe about 2 decades ago.
Even regular cheese is almost all artificially aged.[/quote]
Europe, from his English? North America isn’t the only ‘west’
I’m 39, British, and never ate that stuff growing up. We made bread or got it from the bakery, ate porridge, not pre-made cereal, and dairy stuff came from the dairy farm at the bottom of the lane. Creme brulee wasn’t really a thing in northern England, but we had home-made hot custard with home-made desserts which we didn’t eat that often. Two minutes: faster than instant stuff because you won’t be fcking around trying to get the lumps out. Why would you waste time and money eating instant puddings?
I’ve only ever heard of Cheez Whiz on the internet, although there was stuff like Dairylea. We weren’t allowed to eat it unless it was given to us out of the house. We weren’t the Railway Children or something, just a normal British household … and Brits eat far more processed shit than the rest of Europe.
Margaret Thatcher invented soft scoop ice-cream and cream in a can, did you know? Which tells you all you need to know about whether you should be eating that sort of food. 
The oil ‘scandal’ may have a good effect because it might sensitise people to the taste of oils: a lot of Taiwanese packaged food such as bread is simply inedible to me because of the smell from the bad oil used. Have you ever walked past that ‘bakery’ called ‘Semeur du Pain’ (Sp?) ? It absolutely turns my stomach. I’d rather lick a handrail on the MRT than eat anything from there.
Imei was the only company with its own state of the art testing facilities. After their help in bringing the plasticizer scandal to public light, the facility was closed down by local authorities. That tells you a lot.
In case I am not clear, what I mean to say is that Imei is a good guy, but doing things by the book on public behalf does not make any friends.
Are you sure it wasn’t just cost cutting?
One of the major problems with the food quality here in Taiwan is that inspectors are sent out by local governments. Yes the same local governments that often have gangster networks in charge and are tied to the hip with local businesses. You’ve seen local cops in Taiwan, don’t imagine local food and sanitation inspectors are any better.
You see where this is going…the big red envelopes.
They KNOW all about what is going on, they are paid to turn a blind eye to it. The same local food and health inspectors are tasked with ‘monitoring’ the companies after they have been outed in the media or by whistle blowers.
It’s all a game.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“brobronek”]…Who in the west gonna look for a crime brûlée pre-mix or a simple mousse pre-mix???
In fact, our mummies since babies were preparing this stuff for us and from scratch… Not a difficult task.
Maybe because everyone in the west have an oven at home? I don’t really get the point of having all this pre-mixes.[/quote]
Sorry but what world do you live in? No offense but what you described hasn’t been the case even in the west for 40 years. Instant pudding has been around since the 50s. And who do you think invented Wonder Bread? Or cereals that are 90% sugar and have no cereal at all in them? Or pink slime sold as lean beef? Or beef for that matter which has to be well cooked as it almost always is contaminated?
Or how about Cheez Whiz, which incidentally stopped adding cheese to its recipe about 2 decades ago.
Even regular cheese is almost all artificially aged.[/quote]
No problem man. I have never seen my mum using any kind of pre-mix. She always cooked everything from scratch.
I have nothing against the use of pre-mix. Of course you can use them and they are not that bad I believe. But for example I never used a pre-mix for my job and as a pastry chef I hope never have to use them. My problem is the systematic use of these products. That is the real problem.
I have a small but growing pastry catering business here in Taipei, and when visiting some restaurateur in order to make them some desserts menus, (The guys are as expat as me )talking about a target price of 11nt$.
Do you know what it means?
11nt$!!!
I am pretty sure they do not even know the price of an egg btw. And that they lost any kind of logic by the continuous use of these product. Of course their menu is cheaper but man, If some people knew what they were throwing into their mouth, they’ll be very surprised and chocked. I feel in Taipei people pay more for a place than for a meal.
Hey!!! My job is to feed people! That is how I see my job. And I will carry on what I am doing and how I am doing it. The way is much longer but make me more proud and that is it.
Some local pastry guys worked for me a year ago. And they were unable to do anything I told them. In fact when I asked them to do even a simple custard or pastry cream they just ask me where is the box of the pre-mix. Very chocking for me. :fume:
Ps: I said some places Not all of them in case
Concerning the other stuff you are talking about, wonder stuff, cheesy things… Never heard about this stuff. Sorry.
And you should be worry when you have these kind of names on your food
Ask them what ‘American cheese’ is? Something to be proud of?
There was a famous case in Australia recently where a local supermarket claimed they were baking their own bread in store.
Turned out it was shipped frozen from Ireland!
Lucky Aussies getting the good stuff 
,
Haha.
Icon wrote:
Wow! I had no idea they had shut it down. Damn. How on earth could the authorities justify that? (not morally of course, I can see WHY they would), but on what grounds did they claim that stopping a company carrying out diligent checks on their products was in the public interest?
[quote=“kitkat”]Icon wrote:
Wow! I had no idea they had shut it down. Damn. How on earth could the authorities justify that? (not morally of course, I can see WHY they would), but on what grounds did they claim that stopping a company carrying out diligent checks on their products was in the public interest?[/quote]
They didn’t, darling, they found a loophole -something something like 15 years old- and enforced it, coincidentally, at the same time. Isn’t that amazing?
To all of you, in Taiwan or wherever you are, I recommend you read:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, a nonfiction book by Michael Pollan published in 2006.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omnivore’s_Dilemma
After that, you will look at your meal, especially meat, in a different way.
Enjoy.
Are you sure about that Icon? I didn’t see anything in a search, and it seems to be a going concern from their website (not that that’s necessarily a strong indication.) It would be really outrageous, hence my curiosity. I see a report from around that time that part of a factory was on riverside land and local government wanted them to remove it, but nothing about the lab.