The Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) on Monday ordered a firm in Ho Chi Minh City to recall two types of canned food it imported from a Taiwanese company, as the products contain the tainted cooking oil that has caused a food scare in Taiwan.

Cuu Huong Co Ltd, a trade-service company based in District 11, has imported two types of products from Taiwan-based Wei Chuan Foods Corp which contain ‘gutter oil,’ the VFA said, citing information provided by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hanoi.

The products include canned pickled cucumber with pork, and canned minced meat with chili.

Cuu Huong has imported 240 boxes of each product, according to the Taipei office.

Chang Guann Co, a Taiwanese lard supplier, is at the center of the scandal, after it made 782 tons of ‘gutter oil,’ which was then distributed to food processors and manufacturers in Taiwan.

‘Gutter oil’ describes illicit cooking oil which has been recycled from waste oil collected from sources such as restaurant fryers, sewer drains, grease traps, and slaughterhouse waste.

More than 1,200 manufacturers used the tainted oil processed by Chang Guann in their products, according to Taiwanese newspaper Want China Times.

The VFA ordered that Cuu Huong stop distribution and recall the affected products. The food importer must report its recall campaign to the administration by Saturday.

It also requested that health departments across the country check to see if the products are available at their local markets to recall them.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper attempted to contact Cuu Huong representatives for comment, but the company headquarters were closed on Monday night.

Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City food safety department, said her unit will cooperate with local police to examine the company’s warehouse and recall the tainted products on Tuesday.

Fourteen food items made from ‘gutter oil’ have been exported to the United States, France, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, according to Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration.

The producer of the ‘gutter oil,’ which health experts say may contain cancer-causing substances, has been fined US$1.6 million by Taiwanese authorities.

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