Rancid Oil Crisis: Government Cannot Disown Responsibility

Rancid Oil Crisis: Government Cannot Disown Responsibility
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
September 11, 2014

Summary: The CIB Southern Region Crime Fighting Center uncovered an underground factory engaged in the extraction of cooking oil from rancid leftovers. Its discovery touched off a new wave of food safety concerns. Over the past week the government has become increasingly vocal. More and more manufacturers have been implicated. More and more people are frightened. The government's competence has been called into question. More importantly, the laws have been shown to be inadequate, since they allowed manufacturers to commit these crimes. The operators involved lacked both conscience and social responsibility. What they did made people's hair stand on end. We are now forced to ask, does the per capita income on Taiwan still exceed 20,000 USD? Is the character of its people still its greatest tourist attraction?

Full Text Below:

The CIB Southern Region Crime Fighting Center uncovered an underground factory engaged in the extraction of cooking oil from rancid leftovers. Its discovery touched off a new wave of food safety concerns. Over the past week the government has become increasingly vocal. More and more manufacturers have been implicated. More and more people are frightened. The government's competence has been called into question. More importantly, the laws have been shown to be inadequate, since they allowed manufacturers to commit these crimes. The operators involved lacked both conscience and social responsibility. What they did made people's hair stand on end. We are now forced to ask, does the per capita income on Taiwan still exceed 20,000 USD? Is the character of its people still its greatest tourist attraction?

The rancid oil crisis has dealt a serious blow to Taiwan's long-held image as a "realm of haute cuisine." The US weekly Time Magazine reported on Taiwan's rancid oil scandal. Even the Mainland, which has long been troubled by food safety concerns, has urged the public to exercise caution with food products from Taiwan. Shanghai's Food and Drug Administration has removed 8,700 Taiwan foods from the shelves, and requested certification for future food sales from Taiwan.

The people as a whole are paying a heavy price for a single black-hearted manufacturer. We have expressed dismay. We have leveled criticisms. We must now seek constructive solutions. We must guard against such food safety crises in the future. A single black-hearted company produced rancid oil. Yet over a thousand companies have been implicated. They include major food manufacturers and reputable old line brands. Clearly our food production, management, and quality control systems have blind spots. Our job is to identify these blind spots, shine a light on them, and eliminate them. Three blind spots stand out in particular.

One. GMP failure. Many giant GMP companies have been implicated. This has led to criticism that the GMP system is worthless. Some even advocate its elimination. Elimination could be dangerous. An entire system should not be elminated due to a single case. The GMP system contains weaknesses, including the role of government grants, and the lack of consumer representatives among GMP members. This leads to concerns over "players acting as referees." This undermines the credibility of the GMP as a watchdog for food safety. Once the storm has passed, GMP operations should be subjected to comprehensive review, to bolster its gatekeeper function.

Two. Food safety inspection failure. During the turmoil, the Food and Drug Safety Department announced the test results for four rancid oil samples. They concluded that the oil would inflict no immediate harm on human health and gave it a "green light." This caused an uproar. The Food and Drug Safety Department added fuel to the fire. It illustrated how not to conduct crisis management. Its "inspection" merely underscored the inadequacy of the food inspection mechanism.

Passing an inspection does not mean that a food stuff is harmless and healthful. That is a delusion. Technology has advanced. Black-hearted merchants have improved their' refining techniques. Unscrupulous manufacturers are alchemists whose refining techniques have evolved to cheat the tests. When the enemy becomes more powerful, one must match its strength. The agencies responsible cannot rely exclusively on testing. Many food safety and chemical experts have proposed increasing the number of items inspected. They have recommended improvements in test methods. The agencies in charge should carefully study their recommendations and make good use of them.

Three. Government failures. This can be divided into central and local government failures. Strictly speaking, the first two forms of failure are central government level failures. The central government is responsible for legislation and policy. It is responsible for mending leaks in the system. The rancid oil scandal raises the issue of manpower shortages. It raises the question of whether we should emulate the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Should we establish a "Food Safety Investigation Bureau" that integrates central and local level management? The question warrants further consideration.

Nor should local government failures be overlooked. As in the past, even when local governments shared responsibility, they invariably pass the buck onto the central government. The rancid oil scandal shocked the nation. Naturally the central government cannot shirk responsibility. But Guo Liecheng's factory was located in Pingtung County. It too must assume responsibility.

People who lived around the Guo Liecheng factory could not stand the stench. They reported this to the Pingtung County Government repeatedly. Pingtung County authorities were the first line of defense in environmental protection and food safety. They failed to do their duty. Fortunately members of the public persevered. They redirected their efforts at the CIB Southern Region Crime Fighting Center. Only then was the scandal exposed. Otherwise, how much more rancid oil would the nation have swallowed because the Pingtung County Government sat on its hands? Yet during the search for the perpetrators, as with the Kaohsiung gas explosion incident, the central government bore all the blame. Local government got a free pass. The Pingtung County Government virtually disappeared from awareness during the search for responsible parties.

The search for responsibile parties must not become an excuse to lynch people in anger. The punishment must fit the crime. If two parties are responsible, one cannot punish one while giving the other a free pass. Selective enforcement and disproportionate punishment will only make the problem worse. Disproportionate punishment will merely encourage those responsible -- such as the Pingtung County Government -- to act even more unscrupulously, because they know they can get away with murder.

The above failures all demand systemic reform. The system must be reformed. But businesses must also have a sense of mission, and the public must remain vigilant. Both were missing in the food safety net. The recent controversy alerted the entire nation and forced it to reflect. We must not lose faith in the people of Taiwan. Guo Liecheng is a black-hearted businessman. But he does not represent everyone on Taiwan. The government must learn from its mistakes. It must address its blind spots, and prevent such scandals from recurring.

社論－走出餿油風暴 政府責無旁貸
2014年09月11日 04:10
本報訊

刑事局南部打擊犯罪中心破獲黑心餿水油地下工廠，揭開新一波食安風暴，一周來，政府的話愈說愈重、受累廠商愈來愈多、民眾的心愈來愈慌張。這起風暴不僅顯示政府管理能力出了問題，更涉及法令制度不完備，留下廠商為惡的空間，而涉案經營者沒有天良與社會責任感，更讓人髮指。我們不禁要問，台灣還是一個國民平均所得超過2萬美元、最美的風景是人的國家嗎？

餿油風暴也嚴重打擊台灣長期以來想要建立的美食王國形象。美國主流媒體《時代雜誌》等均報導台灣餿水油事件，甚至連長期受食安問題困擾的大陸，也「提醒」民眾注意台灣的食品安全，上海市食藥監局下架8700件台灣食品，並要求今後銷售涉及台灣食品必須提供合格證明。

為了一個黑心廠商，全體國人付出慘重代價！除了痛心與批評，更重要的是拿出建設性的做法，確保食安問題不會反覆發生。一個黑心廠商產製餿水油，竟能將一千多家企業「一網打盡」，還不乏食品大廠與眾多商譽卓著的老字號商家。這顯示食品的產製到管理，出現了結構性的品管盲點，首要之務就是要找出這些盲點，以強燈照射，徹底消除。這中間至少出現3個失靈盲點。

一是GMP失靈，由於許多GMP大廠也被捲入餿油風暴，引起各界批評GMP制度形同虛設，甚至主張廢除。廢除論恐有因噎廢食之虞，制度之立，不宜輕率因個案即破，但GMP制度運作上確有不足，也是實情，包括政府補助的角色、GMP協會的成員缺乏消費者代表等等，都會引起「球員兼裁判」的疑慮，也會降低GMP為優良食品把關的功能，應在此次風暴後，對GMP的運作全面體檢，強化其把關的功能。

二是食安檢驗失靈。在這次風暴中，食藥署為安民心，公布4個餿油樣品的檢測結果，做出對人體健康沒有立即傷害的「綠燈」結論，引起軒然大波。撇開食藥署又做了一次「火上添油」的危機管理負面示範，這次的「檢驗合格」，也恰顯示食品檢驗機制的不足與失靈。

根本的迷思是，檢驗合格等於無害健康嗎？科技昌明，也讓黑心煉油術不斷進化，不肖廠商如同暗黑煉金術士也不斷演化出對付「檢驗項目」的進化版煉油術。「魔長一丈，道就算不濟，也該長個一尺」，主管官署不能只仰賴檢驗技術與檢驗項目。而在這次事件，許多食安與化工專家均提出增加檢驗項目與改進檢驗方法的建議，主管機關實應認真研究與時俱進，擇善接納。

三是政府管理的失靈，這又分為中央與地方2個方面的失靈，在中央方面，嚴格來說，前面二者的失靈，也是一種中央管理的失靈，因為中央負責法規與政策的總體制訂，制度上的補漏，中央政府責無旁貸，此外，因為這次餿油風暴，引發了稽查人力不足的問題，也連帶引導諸如要不要仿美國FDA（食品藥物管理局）成立「食品安全調查局」，採中央、地方一條鞭式管理來加強食安，值得進一步整體規畫。

但地方政府的管理失靈，也不應忽視，一如過去的危機事件規律，即便地方有責，萬矢還是射向中央。在這次震撼全國的餿油事件，中央固然有無可推卸的責任，但郭烈成工廠所在的屏東縣政府，也應檢討其責任。

郭烈成的工廠周邊民眾受不了惡臭，屢次向屏東縣政府檢舉。身為環保、食安第一線機關的屏東縣政府卻沒有積極處理。還好民眾鍥而不舍改向刑事局南部打擊犯罪中心檢舉，才打破黑幕，否則全國民眾因為屏縣府的懈怠，還要吃多久的餿油？但在這一波的輿論究責中，如同高雄氣爆事件的複製，中央扛全責，地方全沒事。屏東縣政府幾乎從究責版面上神隱。

究責不能變成祭河神。找個人丟進河裡洩憤了事。誰犯多少錯，就該挨多少棒子。如果黑狗白狗一起犯錯，就不能把拿白狗開刀，卻放黑狗沒事。不合比例的究責，只會讓問題更嚴重，因為不合比例的究責，會讓需要要負責任的人如屏縣府心存僥倖、更肆無忌憚。

以上失靈處，都是制度改革的著力處，但除了改進制度外，企業的使命感與民眾的警覺心，仍是食安保護網不可或缺的二角。最後，這次風暴，確實是全體國人應一起警惕與反省的重大事件。但我們也不應因此對台灣的公民素質失去信心，郭烈成一廠的黑心，不能概等台灣全民的文化。政府要痛定思痛，針對失靈盲點找出改善方案，不讓風暴再起。