Oil company owner in Taiwan arrested for selling tainted oil to 900 restaurants

The owner of an illegal factory in southern Pingtung county in Taiwan has been detained following a food safety scare over recycled cooking oil that, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was supplied to more than 900 restaurants and bakeries.

Kuo Lieh-chen, the factory owner, has been arrested, while five others implicated in the case have been questioned by authorities and released on bail.

The arrest comes after prosecutors filed a complaint after the accused was released last week on bail for $1,670.

A spokesman for the Pingtung district court, Pan Cheng-ping, was quoted by eNews Channel Africa as saying: "As he is likely to flee or conspire with other suspects, we decided to take him into custody."

The FDA said that 933 restaurants, bakeries and food plants, including 397 in Taipei city, had used the tainted oil supplied by Chang Guann Co, which is a leading food oil manufacturer in the country.

According to investigations, in the six months from February the company purchased about 243t of tainted oils from Kuo that had been gathered from cookers, fryers and grease traps. This used oil was then mixed with lard oil to be sold to customers.

eNews Channel Africa reported that the company had produced close to 782t of the tainted oil in total.

The company has apologised, saying that it was not aware that the oil was being recycled.

Following the inspection of Chang Guann Co, authorities have seized around 49t of suspected recycled oils and asked all of the companies that buy oil from the company to recall any product that could have used the oils.

Wei Chuan Foods, which is the owner of the Master Kong instant noodle brand, has recalled 12 types of products, including meat paste and pork floss, which may have used the recycled oils.

This is the second such scandal to hit Taiwan in less than a year. Last December, a factory owner was sentenced to 16 years in prison for selling olive oil adulterated with cheap cottonseed oil and banned colouring agent copper chlorophyllin.