This is just the traditional way of recycling food items in Taiwan and China,
reusing old food items reminds me somehow of stinky tofu and iron eggs…
Sounds like classic Hebei cuisine!
Everyone freaked me out talking about this in China, but so far I’ve been lucky: just come across really cheap, bad-tasting food.
My cooking is coming on well, though. 
wtf is Taiwan doing this shit?
This is everywhere in China.
The difference is that in Taiwan, 99.99% of people frown upon this and think it’s gross. In China, many people actually think it makes the food taste better.
Serves the Taiwanese right to get their fair share of local gutter oil. They better see this as an opportunity to clean up their act in food safety and labelling rather than always claim “Oh but we are much better than Mainland China!”.
Quote from the front page of the local rag: Doctor Chen; “not even pigs would eat that shite”
I had a plate of noodles in china last week like this. Blurgghh…I thought it was too much soya sauce.
I kind of don’t trust these guys driving around in a dirty blue truck picking up used oil at restaurants :no-no: … there should be some kind of government permit and tracking system when operating a business like that.
But in the days I still had the eatery, a local pig farmer was wild to get his hands on my frying oil, he even paid me good money for as it was the best used oil he had ever seen … he probably used part of it for cooking at home instead of feeding to the pigs. 
Good oil is actually a huge cost in restaurant business when doing deep frying properly.
Many years back there was this old guy selling fried chou tofu … his oil looked like the thing you use to stain wood, and smelled like it too … foaming like crazy when he put tofu in there. I guess he died … of old age. 
Maybe that oil kept him going into his nineties…it might have contained the secret to eternal youth.
Fragrant it surely was.
Victim? Purchasing goods from unlicensed businesses is just to cut purchasing prices and up profits (greed) … victims my ass! :loco:
You know Taiwan. Victim until proven perpetrator. (But the media reports it the other way.)
It’s not only Taiwan … it’s a worldwide given in the food industry. Maximizing profits by using ingredients and additives at a cost as low as possible without even confirming the source. It’s changed in recent years in Europe due to a tracking system but the food industry is still trying to get ingredients legalized that actually don’t belong in food but that can cut production cost. And mostly big lobby wins over the politicians with legal ‘bribes’.
What are the other major food scandals in the last few years?
I remember: - Plasticizer and Olive Oil, but what are the others?
Maybe we should try to predict the next one in advance. I reckon water or filtration systems could be a big one.
Last year there was the “made in Taiwan” rice that actually was mixed with low-quality rice from I think Vietnam.
We already had the water scandal like 8 years ago… time for redux part XVIII.
One never ceases to wonder at the marvel of Taiwanese street food, which many expats often list among the reasons of living in this country.
Problem this is this case worst part is not street food, but canned/industrial goods, which should be processed in a more hygienic way, one had hoped. I mean, WeiChuan is one of the largest companies. What business does it have buying from shady suppliers?! Why doesn’t it have quality control labs for their purchases?!
Oh, I forget: the best private food quality control was closed down by the Government…
Yeah what the hell is a large conglomerate doing sourcing products from shady local vendors? Have they any standards whatsoever?
In China some supermarket have installed quite advanced food inspection systems, which is possibly a first worldwide. The supermarkets will be made liable in case of any food scandal so they are being proactive.
People in the office were joking about it today but I wouldn’t joke about it if I ate that stuff, I would just be angry.
Others…
- Chinese herbal products with banned Chinese pesticides.
- Bread
- Eggs
- Milk
Last year Premier Jiang Yi-huah announced the establishment of an inter-ministerial investigation task force that was supposed to conduct additional checks on so-called high-risk foods, including soy sauces, cooking oil, rice, bread, eggs, milk and food bought through group-buying websites.
Either that effort is not working, or the raids that were done to uncover this latest scandal is a result from this task force.
I’ve always been suspecting the all-you-can-drink tea containers in restaurants. That stuff is dirt-cheap and I often feel it tastes like kerosene.