The 2014 Taiwanese adulterated oil scandal refers to an incident in 2014 when many edible oil manufacturers in Taiwan were found to have violated the law. The incident aroused widespread public attention on food safety issues, including the detection of several scandals of inferior oil products.
Reasons and analysis
Adulterated edible pork lard Around 2009, an elderly farmer in a village in Pingtung County retired from the north to his hometown to farm and raise chickens and ducks. Several months later, Guo Liecheng purchased land nearby and set up an "underground oil factory" specializing in the production of adulterated low-quality oils. Due to improper waste discharge, the factory caused a foul odor that made the surrounding environment unbearable. The elderly farmer and other local residents repeatedly reported this to the Pingtung County government, but to no avail. Eventually, they gathered evidence on their own. In August 2013, through a friend, they reported the case to the Taichung City Police Department. After gathering evidence, the officers, due to the long distance, transferred the case to the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office in April 2014, leading to the eventual bust of this case, which threatened public food safety. However, the subsequent extensive media coverage made the villagers worry about possible retaliation from criminal groups.
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. 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. The company’s chairman, Yeh Wen-hsiang, had been in the oil processing business for 40 years and had been reported multiple times for producing adulterated oil from recycled waste oil. Since 2008, he had imported animal feed oil from Hong Kong, amassing 56 batches totaling 2,385 tons of pork oil, which was secretly processed into low-quality edible oil, a fraudulent practice that may have been ongoing for years.
On September 4, 2014, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) stated that Chang Guann Co. had purchased recycled waste oil and gutter oil from "Guo Liecheng's factory" in Pingtung, blending 33% of this adulterated oil with 67% lard to produce a product labeled as "Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard." Many well-known downstream companies used this tainted oil. The Taipei City Department of Health held a press conference in the evening, revealing that 12 processed products, such as meat sauces and meat floss manufactured by Wei Chuan Corp., a subsidiary of Ting Hsin International Group, were made with Chang Guann's "Chuan Tung Fragrant Lard." Wei Chuan voluntarily initiated recalls, ceased sales, and took preventive measures. The Department of Health urged food businesses that had used or sold processed products containing this lard to halt manufacturing, processing, and sales, and to report to the health authorities for inspection and traceability.
Adulterated feed oil
Guo Liecheng's underground gutter oil factory in Pingtung, Jin Wei Enterprises Due to negligence by the Pingtung County Government, Guo Liecheng's underground gutter oil factory and Jin Wei Enterprises (which had a temporary factory registration that was revoked on September 19) were able to operate, as well as the illegal Yoho Beach Resort in Kenting, which was allowed to continue its business "legally." 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. A total of 815.7 tons of oil were distributed to 14 companies, with 26.1 tons being sealed, and 789.6 tons already sold. It is suspected that 96.8% of this oil had already been consumed by the public. Feed oil was not listed as a registered ingredient for animal feed, and its raw materials, production process, and distribution were never regulated. Gutter oil was even mixed into feed oil for animals, which eventually ended up being consumed by humans.
On September 10, investigators discovered that Jin Wei had been commissioned by major food companies, such as Ju Yi, to refine "edible goose oil" for almost a year, even though Jin Wei was only authorized to produce "animal feed oil." 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.
Hsin Hao Enterprises (upstream supplier of Ting Hsin International Group) 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. This refined oil was then sold to Cheng I Food Co., leading to the contamination of multiple “Cheng I oil” products. It was revealed that Hsin Hao, established by Wu, had minimal staffing, sometimes employing only one or two temporary sales agents. Hsin Hao’s oil sources were complex, involving at least four different types of oils from more than seven suppliers, including feed oil, palm oil, mixed animal-vegetable oil, and recycled waste oil.
According to an October 9 report by TVBS, Wu previously served as the head of the “Special Sales Department” in 2004, responsible for “procurement.” He allegedly left due to disagreements with Ting Hsin International Group after it took control, but in 2010, he started transacting with his former employer through his newly established Hsin Hao company. Prosecutors indicated that, in the past, inspections were conducted by Wu’s former colleagues. However, in May 2014, a new employee who was unfamiliar with him conducted an audit, detected issues with the source of Wu’s lard, and reported it, prompting Cheng I to halt cooperation with him.
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. Legislator Lin Shufen questioned, “How could a major oil company like Ting Hsin’s Cheng I purchase from Hsin Hao, which doesn’t even own an oil tank?”
On October 10, United Daily News reported that the Tainan District Prosecutor’s Office found that Kuo Shengrong’s companies (Jinhong, Fulong, Jinlong) and Chang Guann had imported 731 tons of non-edible mixed animal and vegetable oil from Golden Pacific, a Hong Kong-based company, which was then resold by Hsin Hao to Cheng I. Meanwhile, Jiufeng Company in Chiayi County also sourced oil from Golden Pacific. Apple Daily on the same day confirmed this but noted that Jiufeng’s oil, imported as “fish oil for feed,” was transported by tank truck directly to Cheng I for processing into edible oil, bypassing customs documentation. 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.
On October 9, the Kaohsiung Department of Health and local investigators traced eight upstream suppliers for Cheng I, including Hsin Hao and two other companies in Kaohsiung (He'an and Yongchen), while the other five were referred to regional authorities for further investigation into their oil sources. 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. Additionally, the Livestock Department requested that the Pingtung County government investigate the origins and distribution of the lard Hsin Hao purchased from two underground factories in Jiuru and Changzhi Townships in Pingtung.
Ting Hsin International Group and upstream suppliers
In the past, imported oils only required customs declarations, and it wasn't until 2012 that the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) began regulating imported oils. According to the indictment against Wei Ying-chung, Ting Hsin Oil began importing feed oil from Vietnam’s Dai Hsing Fu for use as lard in 2012. On October 12, several individuals, including Yang Chen-yi, the head of Dai Hsing Fu (a supplier of Vietnamese feed oil imported by Ting Hsin), were detained. The feed oil supplied by Dai Hsing Fu to clients like Ting Hsin was priced at 20 to 25 NTD per kilogram, even cheaper than Guo Liecheng’s gutter oil, which was priced at 26.7 NTD per kilogram. However, according to the attachment to the first-instance verdict of the Changhua District Court, the actual price for lard imported by Ting Hsin from Dai Hsing Fu ranged from 23.33 to 32.87 NTD, with 15 out of 26 batches priced above 27 NTD per kilogram, contradicting reports that it was cheaper than Guo Liecheng’s gutter oil. The MOHW could only track imported oil quantities from Dai Hsing Fu from August 2013 onward. This limitation was due to the Customs Administration, under the Ministry of Finance, only amending the "Customs Cooperation for Import and Export Trade Management Regulations" on August 16, 2013. This amendment required edible and feed oil imports to undergo inspection by the MOHW's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with customs assisting in inspections, thus allowing for records of Dai Hsing Fu's imports to be traced.
Hong Kong’s Golden Pacific 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. Feng Runlan, Director of the Regional Control Center at Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), stated that Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety responded that the case is still under criminal investigation, and arrangements for Taiwanese personnel to visit Hong Kong cannot be made at this time.
Product overview 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.
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. Despite the public’s alarm, the government initially struggled to find an effective solution, exacerbating concerns over food safety.
Hong Kong On September 7, 2014, the Hong Kong government announced that three import companies—Dah Chong Hong Holdings Ltd., Veggie International Limited, and Angliss Hong Kong Food Service Ltd.—had imported other lard products from Taiwan's Chang Guann Companyports revealed that Maxim’s Group purchased at least 360 barrels of tainted lard, which was used in their bakery branches, such as Arome Bakery, Can.Teen, and specialty stores of Starbucks, including in the production of pineapple buns .