Recently, AVA recalls 6 Taiwanese food products that could be tainted with gutter oil. See: Two food products recalled in Singapore following ‘tainted oil’ scandal
About 2 weeks ago, AVA almost immediately released a press statement saying that Singapore does not import any Taiwan gutter oil. I presume that they were confident since all our cooking oil is from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia (Corn Oil, Vegetable Oil, Palm Oil, Canola Oil) [Link]
Perhaps AVA did not factor into account about the food chain where Taiwan oil could still be used to fry snacks in Hong Kong / Taiwan and the traces of oil can be still found in these snacks before they are imported into Singapore.
The compare and contrast of Singapore vs Hong Kong handling of Taiwan Gutter Oil saga:
Singapore government authorities first declared that Singapore did not import any of the tainted oil from Taiwan but Taiwan authorities have debunked such assertion and said that the Taiwanese company has exported to countries including Singapore!
After hearing this, Singapore authorities just said that they will "monitor the situation closely"! What kind of attitude and efficiency is that?
In contrast, Hong Kong authorities have started work straight away to trace the source of the tainted raw material/oil which was exported to Taiwan as well as the importers of the tainted final oil products.
It has traced who has been sold the tainted oil and have requested the withdrawal and destruction of all balance stocks! Finished products which used the tainted oil as part of production have also been removed from shelves. It has published over 300 names of those companies or shops which have been affected by this gutter oil scandal.
It just shows how indifferent and irresponsible PAP government is when it comes to dealing with public food safety issue.
Recently in Parliament, PAP MP Seah Keng Peng did pose a question about radioactive food from Fukushima, Japan. Click on http://app.mnd.gov.sg/Newsroom/NewsPage.aspx?ID=5467&category=Parliamentary%20Q%20&%20A
MND's answer was that AVA will monitor the food import. But then, even if someone consumes radioactive food, wouldn't it be too late to reverse it? Why should MND/ AVA be so reckless?
The PAP government really needs a hard kick at its back to wake up their bloody idea whose logic is to make money at the expense of its citizens.
CJ
TRS Contributor