TFDA to release Central Union oil test results Monday

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) said Sunday it will release test results Monday for raw cooking oil and downstream products linked to the Central Union Oil Corp. contamination scandal, as the number of affected businesses remained unchanged at 1,322 for a third straight day.

TFDA Deputy Director-General Wang Te-yuan (王德原) said testing of raw oil supplied by Central Union and related products was expected to be completed Sunday, ahead of the release of the results the next day.

Central Union produced 30 batches of oil products between April and June, three of which were never shipped and passed government testing, according to the TFDA. Seven batches were found to contain excessive levels of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and recalled.

Products backed by sufficient test evidence can be removed from the list of non-compliant items and allowed back on the market, Wang said, adding however that laboratory results alone would not determine whether they can be relisted.

The TFDA collected 224 samples, including raw oil and finished products, from 52 raw oil samples and 321 product samples. Not all batches could be tested because some companies had not retained reserve samples, Wang said.

As of 11 a.m. Sunday, authorities had recalled 2,769.3 metric tons of products from the seven contaminated batches and removed another 5,200.7 tons from other batches as a precaution, bringing the total withdrawn to 7,970 tons, according to the TFDA's online case tracker.

Separately, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said Sunday the Cabinet will also unveil proposed amendments to the Food Safety and Sanitation Act on Monday together with the test results.

Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party's national congress in Taipei, Cho said the amendments would clarify the division of responsibilities between central and local governments, strengthen source and production controls, improve incident reporting mechanisms and enhance digital food safety governance.

The scandal emerged in late June after Central Union reported that a 1,300-metric-ton batch of soybean oil produced on April 4 contained BaP at nearly four times Taiwan's legal limit.

Authorities have said the company learned of the contamination nearly three weeks before reporting it.