Pork vendor fined NT$54 million for soaking intestines in industrial chemicals

Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) The Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday night fined Pingtung-based Pai Wei Foods Co. NT$54 million (US$1.75 million) for selling pork intestines that had been soaked in industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide.

Wei Jen-ting (魏任廷), head of the FDA's southern management center, said the chemical used was clearly labeled "industrial-grade, not for food use," yet the company used it to make the intestines appear fresh and distributed them to intermediary buyers in Taoyuan, Taipei, Pingtung and Kaohsiung.

He said that because of the scale of the company's operations, the FDA had taken the "rare" step of punishing the company directly, rather than leaving it to local authorities.

According to the FDA, 784 kilograms of bleached intestines sold by Pai Wei Foods were sold to downstream customers, while 2,430 kg were removed from the market before being sold.

Additionally, 12,604 kg of intestines were seized from Pai Wei Foods facilities, including 11,664 kg from the company's main location in Pingtung and another 940 kg from a storage site in New Taipei, the FDA said.

According to Pingtung prosecutors, the owner and four employees of Pai Wei Foods were questioned on Oct. 1 on suspicion of violations of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and fraud under the Criminal Code.

They were later released on pre-charge bail ranging from NT$80,000 to NT$500,000.

Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁), head of the Taipei Department of Health's Food and Drug Division, said Taipei City, where Pai Wei Foods is registered, had ordered the company to suspend operations, and will only allow it to resume business after submitting an improvement plan and passing a review by experts and the health department.