Taipei, Taiwan – The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of harmful products was updated, adding 60 more food products, totaling to 133. The Chang Guann Co products, which were allegedly imported from Globalway Corp Ltd in Hong Kong, were assumed to have been manufactured with lard combined with animal feed oil.
The products suspected of feed oil contamination included 42 types of noodles, seasoning packs, a seasoning packet of an instant noodle product, and five kinds of snacks. Health officials were alarmed, indicating that an urgent care is necessary to address the issue.
In a press conference, Chiang Yu-mei, FDA deputy director general, said 24 products contaminated with feed oil are harmful products, and these will be sealed and ready for disposal. This is a sort of an urgent care clinic that the agency can do at the moment.
Food oil products from Hong Kong, China, and Macau will now need a certification issued by the local food administrative agency, ensuring that such exported products will be safe for human consumption. The certification will be a prerequisite for inspection registration.
The deputy director general also said her agency along with municipal health agencies were able seal 273.2 tons of defective lard oil, 11.9 tons of it have been discarded. The inspection procedures found food product and oil samples to contain substances harmful to the human body. Further inspections are yet to be completed, including the fragrant lard oil of Chang Guann, and further findings are yet to be announced.
The New Taipei Public Health Department also issued its own probe on the case. Feed oil-tainted products were found in nine municipalities across Taiwan, including Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Yilan and Yunlin counties, and many more. Consumers are urged to facilitate a sort of an urgent care near me precaution before purchasing any product.
The health department ordered all products manufactured from March 1 until September 5 to be pulled out, although the oil company claimed their customized version or refining process of fragrant lard. Keeping away from these harmful products will likewise prevent visits to urgent care clinics.
The investigation also revealed that a manufacturer of canned food as well as pork and fish floss known as Kuang Ta Hsiang purchased fragrant lard from Fang Fu; all 16 tons were used in producing fried pork floss and pork floss. The remaining amount of harmful products is yet to be calculated and traced.