Opposition rallies in Taipei over tainted cooking oil scandal

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Thousands attended a main opposition Kuomintang (KMT)-organized rally in Taipei on Saturday to demand answers from the government, nearly a month after large quantities of cooking oil containing excessive levels of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene were found circulating in Taiwan.

The demonstrators gathered under the slogan "I'm against poisoning Taiwan" at the rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.

The food safety scandal erupted after Taichung-based Central Union Oil Corp. was found to have allegedly manufactured 1,300 metric tons of soy-based cooking oil containing four times the legal limit of benzo[a]pyrene and supplied it to major food processors between April and June.

Those companies then sold a range of products containing the tainted oil to smaller food processors and restaurants.

As of Saturday, more than 1,300 businesses had been affected, and more than 500 products had been pulled from store shelves, according to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA).

KMT legislators, mayors and magistrates, along with lawmakers from the smaller Taiwan People's Party (TPP), took turns criticizing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's handling of the scandal. They called on Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to step down and President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to apologize.

They criticized what they described as the government's slow investigation, saying it had failed to determine the cause of the contamination nearly a month after it was discovered.

They also accused the government of attempting to conceal the names of businesses and products that could have been affected by the tainted oil.

KMT Chairperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who is a KMT member, and TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also attended the rally and delivered speeches.

One participant, surnamed Lin (林), said he often eats out and wanted to know why the government had still not gotten to the bottom of the scandal after nearly a month. "I believe the response could have been more efficient," Lin said.

Asked whether the central government or the Taichung City government should bear responsibility for the debacle -- a subject of ongoing debate -- Lin said both shared the blame.

"At the beginning, the local government was responsible for conducting inspections," he said. "But now, a month later, it's already a national problem and, because of the exports, an issue affecting Taiwan's image."

The TFDA said Tuesday that it had informed South Korean authorities that a batch of the noncompliant cooking oil products had been exported to the country, without specifying the quantity.

Cho has repeatedly denied attempting to protect manufacturers by concealing information about downstream products that could have been affected by the tainted oil.

He has said the central government's guiding principle has been to promptly remove potentially contaminated products from store shelves and disclose the affected businesses.

The TFDA ordered Central Union to suspend production on July 1, one day after learning of the contamination, and instructed that all first-tier products that could have contained the oil be removed from store shelves by noon on July 3, Cho told reporters on July 18.

Cho has also rejected opposition accusations that the government had scaled back recall efforts, saying it had instead expanded recalls, including precautionary recalls, of products linked to the tainted cooking oil.

Commenting on the rally, Cho said Friday that rallying was a "civil right" and that he hoped that rational discussions would prevail after the event.

Responding to the rally, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) on Saturday urged the mayors, county magistrates and other elected officials who took part in the event to work with the central government to uphold food safety, saying such cooperation was the best way to meet the public's expectations.

Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said the Cabinet had proposed amendments to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation in response to the scandal, adding that food safety should not be influenced by partisan politics.

DPP spokesperson Lin Chu-yin (林楚茵), meanwhile, said the only parties that had attempted to conceal the issue were Central Union and related companies, adding that the DPP had never compromised on food safety.

In a statement issued before Saturday's rally, the TFDA said it had commissioned an independent third party to investigate the cause of the contamination and would provide timely updates on the investigation's progress and findings.