TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taichung City Chamber of Commerce Chair Hsieh Feng-hsiang (謝豐享) criticized Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Thursday over the city's handling of the ongoing Central Union Oil Corp. tainted oil scandal, accusing her of shifting responsibility to the central government.
In a statement released Thursday night, Hsieh said Taichung City Government had not contacted the chamber on how businesses should respond to the scandal, per ETtoday. He said Lu had been preoccupied with blaming the central government while local businesses were left uncertain whether they still had affected oil products in their inventories.
Hsieh also urged Lu to return to Taichung and address residents' concerns instead of promoting the KMT’s protest scheduled for Saturday. The chamber later said Hsieh posted the statement in internal group chats without prior notice and had not responded to calls from chamber officials, per SETN.
Chamber Vice Chair Shih Chin-lang (施錦郎) said Hsieh's remarks reflected his personal views and did not represent the organization, per UDN. He defended the city government's response, saying inspections, product tracing, and recalls were being carried out to protect public health.
Hsieh's criticism came amid broader scrutiny of Taichung City Government's oversight of the scandal. Health Minister Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said Thursday that Taichung's inspections of edible oil production facilities had been less frequent than those conducted by the Tainan and Kaohsiung city governments, per CNA.
Shih Chung-liang said municipalities with edible oil production facilities, including Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, should focus inspections at the production stage, while other local governments concentrate on products already on the market. He said Taichung had inspected Central Union Oil's production plant only once in the past eight years and added that the city government should explain its handling of the case to the city council, per ETtoday.
Taichung Deputy Mayor Cheng Chao-hsin (鄭照新) rejected Shih's characterization, saying that in addition to its 2024 inspection of the production facility, the city government had tested oil samples from Central Union Oil 17 times since 2022, per UDN. He said regulations require local governments to inspect products on the market, while manufacturers are responsible for self-monitoring, per UDN.
Cheng added that although the production plant had been inspected only once, Central Union Oil does not sell products directly to consumers. He said the company's customers, including Fwusow Industry and Formosa Oilseed Processing Co., had been inspected multiple times.
The Food and Drug Administration has said local governments are responsible for routine food safety inspections and oversight, per UDN. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) echoed that view, saying local governments are responsible for supervising production facilities, per NOWNews.
Among the Cabinet's proposed amendments to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation is a change requiring local authorities to conduct inspections by replacing language stating they "may conduct inspections" with "shall conduct inspections," per SETN. The Cabinet said the amendment would clarify local governments' responsibility for food safety oversight.
