Chung Lien Oil's Reality: Taichung City Government Fails to Inspect Oil for Two Years, DPP Caucus Criticizes Administrative Laziness

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus in Taichung has accused the city government of administrative negligence, specifically concerning the inspection of edible oils produced by Chung Lien Oil.

DPP caucus whip Chou Yung-hung stated that between 2022 and 2025, the city government conducted six inspections of Chung Lien Oil. However, he claims only one of these inspections involved actual oil quality testing, which occurred on April 26, 2024. Chou criticized the city government for failing to conduct any oil quality tests for over two years, calling it administrative laziness and accusing them of packaging factory visits as effective oversight.

Chou drew a parallel to a past African swine fever outbreak, where he alleged the city government's lax inspection practices led to significant economic damage. He recalled that the Control Yuan impeached four city officials in February for claiming 24 inspections over three years, while only two critical inspections related to cooked food waste were actually performed. This oversight resulted in a national ban on pork imports and slaughter for 15 days, causing over 2.1 billion NT dollars in business losses and industry subsidies.

Chou highlighted that despite the lessons from the swine fever incident and subsequent apologies and investigations by Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, the city government's approach to oversight appears unchanged. He pointed out that the routine inspection for the current year for a major oil manufacturer supplying school lunches is scheduled for August, indicating a continued lack of urgency. The DPP caucus demanded a comprehensive review of the city's inspection system for high-risk businesses within one month, requiring a breakdown of inspection versus actual testing ratios for each department over the past five years.