On September 11, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Kaohsiung City Government’s Department of Health have begun an investigation into Chang Guann Co.’s importation of animal feed oil from Hong Kong that was then sold as edible oil. Since vendors could not completely store elsewhere the polluted lard tanks from Hong Kong, all suspected contaminated products have been sealed. At this point, other than the initial “Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard Oil” products, 24 lard products have been added to the list. 

Concerning the situation of Chang Guann selling the inferior lard product “Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard Oil”, as of 2 p.m. on September 11, 2014, the FDA and various county and city health bureaus have mobilized 2,806 personnel to inspect various places such as food production factories, night markets, street vendors, dining spots and retailers – a total of 11,697 places. The inspection results were as follows: Chang Guann provided 235 vendors with 782 tonnes for sale, while downstream vendors totaled 1,020. Health inspectors have found 738 tonnes of the problematic oil, of which 161 tonnes have been sealed, 249 tonnes have been made into products, and 250.9 tonnes have been taken off shelves and recalled. So far, 8.6 tonnes have been destroyed. 

According to Article 7 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, upon discovery that food products may be harmful to sanitation and safety, the food businesses shall immediately cease manufacturing, processing and sale, recall such products voluntarily and report to the municipal or county/city competent authority. Offenders shall be fined up to NT$3,000,000 in accordance with Article 47 of the same Act. As for the food manufacturers who used the 24 items containing lard, they should notify the health bureau in their area of the product name, size, batch number and expiry date, and quantity within 24 hours. They should also start recovery operations to recall the products and inform their district’s health bureau, or they will be severely penalized. 

After the amendments of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, the monetary reward for whistleblowers was significantly raised from 5% to 10% cut of the fine imposed on the offender. Those who report violations in food products, food additives, food utensils, food containers, packaging, food cleansers, labeling, promotional materials, advertisements or food businesses will be rewarded. Whistleblowers can hand over relevant evidence to the local health bureau, and should violations be uncovered as a result of this, the county/city health bureau may, based on the penalty or fine imposed on the offender, issue the whistleblower a certain percentage of the amount as reward.