The latest edible oil crisis continued to expand on Sunday with health authorities ordering more food products removed from shelves. That’s after the products were found to contain substandard oil imported from Vietnam.
The interim head of Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Chiang Yu-mei spoke about the latest situation at a press conference on Sunday. Chiang said that the number of products found using beef tallow intended for animal feed has increased from 61 to 102.
The latest additions include prepackaged slices of bread, peanut bread, "pineapple buns" (bo luo mian bao), cream-filled pastries and hotdog buns produced by several Taichung-based food companies
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At the heart of the food scare is the use of beef tallow imported by Ting Hsin Oil & Fat Industrial Co. from Vietnam between June 21, 2013 and July 4, 2014.
The imported beef tallow was intended only for use in animal feed, but Ting Hsin used it in eight types of tallow for human consumption. The FDA found that those products were sold to many local food companies, including leading food maker Uni-President Enterprises Corp., which runs 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan.