Food Crisis – Taiwan’s Gutter Oil Scandal 食安危機 – 臺灣地溝油醜聞 @ 桃園市立永安國中英文領域

Food Crisis – Taiwan’s Gutter Oil Scandal 食安危機 – 臺灣地溝油醜聞

翰林外師Jason Demorest

This year there have been several cooking oil scandals in Taiwan. The most recent oil scandal is from Chang Guann Company. They made 645 tons of gutter oil which they gave to more than 1,200 eateries: including schools, 7-Eleven, Family Mart and restaurants across Taiwan. This includes everything from rice, to instant noodles to small cakes and dumplings, etc. To make things worse, they have been doing this for over ten years. Chang Guann was making their oil from restaurant waste and animal parts and mixing it with animal fat that was not meant for people to eat before selling it in stores and sending to businesses. Eating gutter oil can give people diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach problems, as well as cause cancer.

The newest oil scandal has the oil being found in pineapple buns, which are a popular breakfast food in Hong Kong. It has since been removed from the shelves across Hong Kong and health officials are checking moon cakes across the city for any gutter oil. This is the second food scandal in Hong Kong this year as well.

People are asking whether the fines for companies using gutter oil is too small. The effects of eating gutter oil can be long term and may be responsible for higher cancer rates in Taiwan. What do you think? Do you think that businesses should be allowed to continue to sell oil after doing something that could hurt so many people?

Word Bank

scandal (n.) 醜聞、醜事	ton (n.) 噸、公噸	gutter (n.) 排水溝、街溝
eatery (n.) 小餐館、食堂、餐廳	dumpling (n.) 餃子、小籠包	diarrhea (n.) 腹瀉
nausea (n.) 反胃、作嘔	vomit (v.) 嘔吐	stomach (n.) 胃
cancer (n.) 癌症、惡性腫瘤	pineapple bun (n.) 菠蘿麵包	shelf (n.) 架子、擱板
fine (n.) 罰金、罰鍰	effect (n.) 影響、作用	responsible (adj.) 需負責任的