Taiwan Taichung District Prosecutors Office (hereinafter referred to as “this Office”) investigated the case involving Zhonglian Oils Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zhonglian”) for manufacturing benzo[a]pyrene in excess of the statutory limit and transporting and delivering it to Fushou Industrial Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Fushou”) and Fumao Oils Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Fumao Company”), and Taishan Enterprises Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Taishan Company”) for sale to downstream food businesses, as well as for delaying the reporting of the case. The investigation has been concluded, and in accordance with the law, the Office has filed charges against Zhonglian, Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan, for a total of 19 defendants. Furthermore, regarding the illicit proceeds from the related crimes totaling approximately NT$887.31 million (hereinafter the same), an application has been filed with the court to order their forfeiture and recovery in accordance with the law.

I.Details of the Investigation

　　Between April and May 2026, Zhonglian Company used Brazilian soybeans jointly procured by three companies—Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan—to manufacture salad oil. Subsequently, downstream operators and testing agencies detected that the benzo[a]pyrene content in some of the oil products exceeded the limit specified in the “Sanitary Standards for Contaminants and Toxins in Food,” established pursuant to Article 17 of the Food Safety and Hygiene Management Act (hereinafter referred to as the “Food Safety Act”) (the limit for benzo[a]pyrene in edible oils is 2.0 μg/kg, or 2.0 ppb). This Bureau immediately directed the Special Task Force on Public Welfare Crimes to activate the “Coordination Platform for Cracking Down on Public Welfare Crimes,” to compile relevant administrative investigation reports, oil distribution records, and testing data. On July 3, the case was formally opened for investigation, and on the same day, this Bureau directed the Taichung City Investigation Office of the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice to obtain relevant information; Subsequently, on July 6, a special task force meeting was convened to assign Prosecutors Weng Jialong, Guo Kui, and Kang Cunxiao to lead a task force comprising prosecutorial affairs officers from this Bureau’s Major Crimes Support Center, the Fourth Security Police Brigade of the Ministry of the Interior’s Police Agency, the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Taichung City Government Police Bureau, and the Taichung City Investigation Office of the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, to conduct a full-scale investigation.

　　The task force conducted four rounds of searches on July 9, 22, and 24, as well as August 4, seizing 26 cell phones, computer towers, hard drives, USB flash drives, internal process documents, inspection reports, and other relevant evidence. After continuously collecting and cross-referencing relevant evidence, this office successively filed motions with the court to remand Yu ○ Chong, General Manager of Zhonglian, and Chen ○ Rong, Plant Manager, as well as Shen ○ Jun and Cai ○ Liang—the former and current General Managers of Taishan, respectively—all four of whom were remanded in custody without access to visitors, as approved by the court; Additionally, the Bureau filed a motion with the court to seize real estate owned by the four companies—Zhonglian, Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan—which was also granted by the court. Subsequently, more than 10 prosecutors from this bureau conducted intensive interrogations of defendants and witnesses on over 70 occasions. They cross-referenced the statements of relevant personnel one by one, analyzed digital evidence from mobile phones, cross-checked raw material acceptance and production process records, traced the distribution channels of the problematic oil products, and obtained testimony from relevant downstream trading partners. After synthesizing the evidence in the case file, they ascertained the relevant criminal facts and filed an indictment in accordance with the law.

II.Summary of Criminal Facts

1.Zhonglian Company manufactured food products containing benzopyrene levels exceeding the limit and failed to promptly recall the products or notify the competent authorities:

　　Cai ○ Song, Chairman of Zhonglian Company; Yu ○ Chong, General Manager; Chen ○ Rong, Plant Manager; and other senior executives, despite being aware that a specific shipment of soybeans imported from Brazil had an abnormally high proportion of heat-damaged beans—which increased the risk of benzo[a]pyrene formation during the manufacturing process—nonetheless acted with malicious intent, disregarding public food safety, went so far as to relax the feed-in control standard for heat-damaged soybeans from 0.5% to 5%, without correspondingly increasing inspection and control measures during the production process; Subsequently, in May 2026, when Cai ○ Song, Yu ○ Chong, and Chen ○ Rong became aware of abnormal benzo[a]pyrene test results in the degummed oil—a semi-finished product in the salad oil production process—indicating that the salad oil manufactured by Zhonglian posed a risk to food safety, they failed to promptly take necessary measures such as conducting an investigation or improving the production process. They also failed to proactively notify the competent authorities or initiate a recall as required by the Food Safety Act, and did not notify the competent authority until June 30, 2026.

　　After reviewing evidence including raw material inspection records, production process records, test results, and the distribution of each batch of oil, the prosecutors of this office determined that a total of 7 batches—including batch number “315-1150404”—of food products, specifically salad oil, manufactured by Zhonglian Company, totaling 8,478.88 metric tons, contained benzo[a]pyrene levels exceeding the statutory limit, which were subsequently shipped and delivered to Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan for repackaging, blending, or sale.

2.Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan failed to immediately recall the products and notify the competent authorities, and continued to sell food products containing benzopyrene levels exceeding the limit:

　　Hong ○-kun, Chairman of Fushou Company; Zhao ○-qiang, General Manager of Fushou Company; Zhang ○-bin, General Manager of Fumao Company; Liu ○-long, Chairman of Taishan Company; Shen ○-jun and Cai ○-liang, the outgoing and incoming General Managers at the time of the incident, respectively; and other senior executives of each company were aware in May and 6, yet they failed to promptly and proactively halt sales, initiate product recalls, or notify the competent authorities. Instead, they are suspected of continuing to sell products—which had been repackaged, blended, or manufactured using the aforementioned problematic oil—to unsuspecting downstream food manufacturers, food service operators, and general consumers, thereby misleading them into making purchases. Among them, Hong ○ Kun and others at Fushou Company received 5,316,289 New Taiwan dollars in sales proceeds; Zhang ○ Bin and others at Fumao Company received 1,968,172 New Taiwan dollars; and Liu ○ Long and others at Taishan Company received 287,309 New Taiwan dollars.

3.Allegations Regarding Zhonglian Company’s Underreporting of the Quantity of Problematic Oil:

　　When Yu ○ Chong and Chen ○ Long of Zhonglian Company reported the matter to the competent authority on June 30, 2026, they allegedly underreported the actual production volume of problematic oil from Tank No. 315—1,289,760 kilograms—as 522,176 kilograms. The underreported quantity amounted to 767,584 kilograms, accounting for approximately 59.5 percent of the actual production volume, thereby affecting the regulatory authority’s ability to accurately determine the scope of food safety traceability, as well as the recall and removal from shelves.

III. Applicable Statutes and Confiscation

1.The actions of the defendants—Cai ○ Song, Yu ○ Chong, Chen ○ Rong, Jiang ○ Long, and others of Zhonglian Company—are all suspected of violating Article 15, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 3, and Article 49, Paragraph 1 of the Food Safety Act by manufacturing food containing substances harmful to human health; Cai ○ Song, Yu ○ Chong, Chen ○ Rong, Chen ○ Long, and others are also suspected of violating Article 7, Paragraph 5 of the Food Safety Act, under circumstances so serious as to pose a risk to human health, and are therefore suspected of committing the offense specified in Article 49, Paragraph 2 of the same Act.

2.The defendants Hong ○ Kun, Zhao ○ Qiang, Yan ○ Xuan, and others from Fushou Company; Zhang ○ Bin, Tan ○ Kai, and others from Fumao Company; as well as Liu ○ Long, Shen ○ Jun, Cai ○ Liang, Zhang ○, and others from Taishan Company are all suspected of violating Article 7, Paragraph 5, and Article 49, Paragraph 2 of the Food Safety Act by failing to proactively suspend sales, conduct recalls, report—under circumstances of a serious nature—as well as the offense of selling food containing substances harmful to human health under Article 15, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 3, and Article 49, Paragraph 1 of the same Act; they are also separately suspected of committing the offense of joint fraud by three or more persons to obtain property under Article 339-4, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Criminal Code, or the offense of ordinary fraud to obtain property under Article 339, Paragraph 1 of the same Act.

3.Defendant Huang ○ Hao is also suspected of violating Article 15, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 3, and Article 49, Paragraph 1, of the Food Safety Act by providing food containing substances harmful to human health as gifts; Defendants Yu ○ Chong and Chen ○ Long are also suspected of violating Articles 216, 215, and 220, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code by using documents containing false information in the course of their business.

4.The Court is requested to impose fines on the four defendant companies—Zhonglian, Fushou, Fumao, and Taishan—pursuant to Article 49, Paragraph 5 of the Food Safety Act.

IV.Sentencing Recommendation

　　With regard to the defendants Cai ○ Song, Yu ○ Chong, Chen ○ Rong, and Hong ○ Kun—who bear decision-making responsibility as the leaders of the manufacturing and distribution operations— Liu ○-long, and Zhang ○-bin—who bear decision-making responsibility at the manufacturing and sales ends—for the malicious nature of their offenses and the harm caused to food safety and consumer rights. The court is requested to impose, for the charges under Article 49, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Food Safety Act, the maximum statutory sentences of 7 years’ imprisonment and 7 years’ imprisonment, respectively, along with fines of 80 million New Taiwan dollars and 80 million New Taiwan dollars; for the fraud charges, we request that the court impose the maximum statutory sentences of 7 years or 5 years’imprisonment, along with fines of 1 million or 500,000; and for the document forgery charges involving defendant Yu ○ Chong, we further request the maximum statutory sentence of 3 years’imprisonment.

　　As to the co-defendants Chen ○ Long, Jiang ○ Long, Zhao ○ Qiang, Yan ○ Huan, Huang ○ Hao, Tan ○ Kaih, Sheng Jun, Cai Liang, and Zhang X. were also asked to impose the statutory maximum sentences of 6 years and 6 months' imprisonment for the offenses under Article 49, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Food Safety Law, and 6 years and 6 months' imprisonment for the fraud offenses.

　　Prosecutors from this office will resolutely seek the aforementioned sentences during court appearances to serve as a deterrent.

Ｖ.Proceeds of Crime

　　The proceeds of crime in this case total approximately 887.31 million yuan. This Office has filed separate motions with the court to order the forfeiture and recovery of approximately 373.07 million yuan from Zhonglian Company, approximately 201.03 million yuan from Fushou Company, approximately 183.90 million yuan from Fumao Company, and approximately 130.21 million yuan from Taishan Company, in order to completely deprive the defendants of their illicit gains.

VI.Our Appeal

　　The Food safety is critical to the health of all citizens. Food manufacturers and retailers bear a high duty of care regarding raw material inspection, production process management, product testing, and reporting of abnormalities. If a product is found to pose a risk to public health and safety, they must immediately cease production, processing, and sales; ensure the product is removed from shelves and recalled; and report the matter to the competent authorities in accordance with the law. They must not delay necessary food safety measures due to considerations of cost, business reputation, or commercial interests. For serious public welfare crimes in which businesses, knowing that food products pose a risk to human health, nevertheless manufacture, sell, conceal, or make false reports—thereby endangering consumer health and disrupting the order of food trade—this Bureau will continue to collaborate with administrative authorities, the police, and investigative agencies to swiftly ascertain the facts, pursue criminal liability, and actively preserve and recover proceeds of crime, in order to safeguard food safety, protect consumer rights, and maintain sound market trading order.