2014 Taiwanese Adulterated Oil Scandal
The incident aroused widespread public attention on food safety issues, including the detection of several scandal of inferior oil products.
[3] Law enforcement officials pointed out that Chang Guann Co. was a well-established oil company in Taiwan, with some products certified by ISO and WHO's food GMP standards.
[2] In early 2014, the price of Chang Guann's lard rose by about 10% above the market rate, deceiving thousands of mid- and downstream companies and affecting the entire Taiwanese population.
On the evening of September 11, Zhu Qingcheng, Deputy Director of the Livestock Department of the Council of Agriculture, released transaction details from Jin Wei for January to the end of August 2014.
"[11] The Pingtung County government could not find the appropriate legal regulations to impose penalties and could only order the factory to shut down due to unsanitary conditions, revealing a gap in law enforcement.
[12] In the early hours of October 8, Hsin Hao Enterprises Co., Ltd. representative Wu Ronghe was detained by investigators after being found to have adulterated “feed oil” with “edible lard” since 2012.
[15] On October 10, Apple Daily reported that the Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office stated Hsin Hao’s upstream suppliers included Fulong Oil Company, Jinlong, and Jinhong Trading, all of which are owned by Kuo Shengrong, and all are located in Yihe Village, Citong Township, Yunlin County.
The Chiayi Health Bureau indicated that Wu Ronghe used his former connections at Cheng I to secure sales by “personal guarantee” rather than providing customs documentation, violating operational procedures.
Zhu Qingcheng, Deputy Director of the Council of Agriculture’s Livestock Department, stated that Hsin Hao was classified as an oil vendor, while Jinhong and Jiufeng were trade companies, and thus not subject to penalties under the existing Feed Management Act.
[15] The Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office discovered that Hsin Hao’s upstream supplier had the same origin as the adulterated oil products of Chang Guann, both tracing back to Hong Kong’s Golden Pacific Company.
[19] According to the list of affected products released by Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as of September 6, a total of 235 companies were found to have used "Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard" produced by Chang Guann Co., Ltd. On the same day, health authorities in Kaohsiung, Tainan, Changhua, and New Taipei City also discovered that Chang Guann had produced rancid oil for Gong Yan Integrated Marketing Company under the label “Hejiang Fragrant Lard.” This oil was distributed widely, reaching ingredient suppliers, grain stores, bakeries, breakfast shops, and street vendors.
[20][21] By September 12–13, the scandal expanded as 24 additional lard products from Chang Guann and oils from Fang Fu Company were identified as tainted, leading to a growing number of affected stores and consumers.
[27] On September 17, the CFS publishtional 141 businesses potentially involved in distributing or using Chang Guann’s lard products, including the Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) staff canteen .
[31][32] After an initial investigation, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in China confirmed that there were no imports of the problematic "Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard."
[33][34][35] On September 8, Taoyuan County's Health Bureau found that garlic toast commissioned by Yi Wang Trading Co. contained the tainted oil.
In Shanghai, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mobilized over 500 inspectors for city-wide checks following Taiwan's media reports and AQSIQ's announcements, leading to the removal of approximately 8,700 affected items by September 9 .
[36][37] In Xiamen, 4.9 tons of goods containing tainted lard—including Wei Chuan’s pickled mustard greens, “Zhenwei” meat sauces, and Sheng Xiang Zhen’s baked goods—were detected.
Additionally, after Taiwanese companies like Master Kong, MOS Burger, Want Want, and Wang Steak were implicated in the scandal, they clarified that their mainland China products did not contain tainted oil.
Master Kong confirmed that its instant noodles and related products produced and sold in China were free of imported Taiwanese ingredients, adhering strictly to Chinese food safety standards .
[53] On September 10, Chen Shanguo, vice-chairman of the Taiwan Tourism Quality Assurance Association, estimated that the number of Chinese mainland tourists would drop by 20% due to the scandal.
[65][66] The inspection results for Hu Xinde recycled oil and ingredients from Chuang Guan (强冠) processing plant showed the following:[62][63][64] Lin Yong-jian, a member of the Consumers' Foundation's testing committee and Professor of Chemistry at National Tsing Hua University, explained that different acidic compounds could be analyzed using techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to detect heavy metals.
Standard laboratory instruments can detect these substances at levels as low as 0.1 ppb, providing a fingerprint that is not listed if it falls below regulatory data thresholds.
The investigation revealed that waste materials from pig skins, as well as by-products from chicken and duck processing, were sold to underground factories for illegal oil production.
The underground factory involved violated Articles 41 and 46 of the Waste Disposal Act, and also faced criminal charges, which could result in a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years.
[13] The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's Tainan City Office discovered that Wu Ronghe founded Xin Hao Enterprise, but the company had almost no employees, with only one or two temporary salespersons occasionally working for it.
[14][15] On October 12, 2024, the Changhua District Court ordered the detention of three individuals involved in the oil scandal: Chang Mei-feng, former general manager of Ting Hsin Group; Tsai Jun-yong, quality assurance team leader at the Pingtung factory; and Yang Zhen-yi, head of the Da Xing Fu company (a supplier of feed-grade oil to Ting Hsin).
[95][96][97] On October 9, Yunlin County Health Bureau transferred the case of Jin Hong Trading's illegal sale of "feed-grade oil" to Xin Hao Enterprises to the prosecutors for investigation.
The Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs issued a written warning to the officer in charge of GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) operations, Hong Hui-Song.
[107] On October 3, 2014, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office concluded the investigation into the gutter oil case and indicted eight individuals, including the main suspect Guo Liecheng, his driver and sales associate Shi Minyu, Jinwei owner Su Qinghuang, his wife Guo Chunye, their son Su Jinwei, Dacheng Feed Company Plant Manager Huang Huiguang, as well as Chang Guann Chairman Yeh Wen-Hsiang and Vice President of Procurement Tai Qichuan.
[109] On July 24, 2015, the Pingtung District Court sentenced Chang Guann Chairman Yeh Wen-Hsiang and Tai Qichuan to 20 years in prison, along with fines of NT$50 million.
