Tainted chili oil being pulled from PX Mart shelves

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) The Taipei Department of Health said Friday 17,112 jars of chili oil found to contain the banned Sudan III dye were supplied to PX Mart and that it had ordered the supermarket chain to remove them from shelves.

In a statement, the department said all unsold jars had either been pulled or were in the process of being pulled. It added that members of the public who have already purchased the product can bring it along with a receipt to any PX Mart store for a refund.

PX Mart is a chain supermarket brand headquartered in Taipei.

The department said it had been alerted by its Yunlin and Tainan counterparts that 12 Taipei-based businesses were clients of companies in their administrative areas that had used the tainted chili powder to make food products.

The 12 businesses were subsequently inspected to check whether they had purchased any goods produced using the problematic chili powder.

During the inspections, it was found that the problematic "B.B Chili Oil" that was manufactured by Tainan-based Mercy Food Co., Ltd, had been supplied to PX Mart.

The chili powder used to produce the chili oil was purchased from Kaohsiung-based Jin Zhan International Co., Ltd and Chia Guang International Co., Ltd, the department said, adding that both companies imported it from China's Kavin Shipping Ltd.

The two were fined a total of NT$3.6 million (US$114,475) by the Kaohsiung Department of Health for failing to provide information on the businesses they supplied with tainted chili powder, according to Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office is now investigating the case, FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Yunlin-based Chan Gu Products Co., Ltd -- which was found to have produced two chili powder products that contained Sudan III -- was found to have supplied 11 businesses in Taipei, but none had purchased its tainted products, the department said.

The Sudan III incident came to light in February when it was found that chili powder supplied by New Taipei-based Bao Hsin Enterprises Co., which was imported from Sanhe Drug Co. in China's Henan Province, contained the carcinogenic Sudan III and had been sold to multiple downstream businesses.

The New Taipei Department of Health said on March 3 that Bao Hsin would be fined NT$2 million for not immediately telling downstream distributors to initiate a product recall, despite having already been informed by some of them that its chili powder was substandard before the incident became national news.

Meanwhile, Taipei-based Chi-Seng Co., Ltd., which had the curry powder it produced using chili powder supplied by Bao Hsin recalled in late February, sent a list of products it made using the tainted chili powder and where they were sold to Taipei's health department on Friday.

The department said it will continue inspecting chili powder and chili oil and will monitor any necessary recalls.

The FDA also announced on Friday that all imported chili powder will be inspected at the border with immediate effect.