Fast food cooking oil inspection results test negative for arsenic

But the agency noted that the extracted oil samples were not from the same fryers as gathered during earlier spot checks conducted by officials from the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) but were of the same manufacturing batch of unused oil.

Despite the latest update, health officials believe laying accountability on a specific party would be difficult at present as the CPC and vendors are continuing with their blame game, local media said.

A spokesman for McDonald's reiterated yesterday the arsenic-free results the company obtained from SGS lab earlier this week.

But Yang Shuen-huei, the Taipei County CPC official that led the first spot checks in late June, retorted by explaining that the oil samples McDonald's had sent to SGS were obtained five to six hours after the random inspection.

She was cited as emphatically relaying her doubts about the immaculate results and even went further to suggest that the fryers had been replenished with clean virgin oil.

Super Laboratory, the quality inspectors for oil samples provided by the CPC, yesterday also stood by its findings and the objectivity of their testing equipment.

Both Super Lab and SGS use inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) instruments in determining metal concentrations in oil, noted local media.

Yang Zhen-tsang, a clinical toxicology attending physician at the Veterans General Hospital, said that he and fellow colleagues were baffled by the notion that inorganic arsenic would even be found in cooking oil.

But other experts mulled the possibility of sample-to-sample variations, and that these discrepancies may not necessarily be attributed to the quality oversight of fast food chains but to the different methods by which samples were taken, said media.

They recommended another round of testing by the same third-party inspector, using the same oil samples taken by the CPC during the first spot check.

Under fire for its management of the drawn-out oil quality controversy, the (DOH) yesterday ordered more extensive and frequent inspections of frying oil across the island.

This would not only pertain to oil used by fast food chains, but also by other vendors as well, added officials.

Those that do not comply with health safety regulations will be heavily fined, with names of establishments released to the public.

Following the disclosure of repeated use of overnight oil in fast food chains -- with one McDonald's branch logging an oil acid value 12 times the accepted norm -- the CPC reported earlier this week the results of tests for heavy metal toxicity.

Cooking oil used by McDonald's and Domino's Pizza were found to contain traces of arsenic.

Pan Ruei-lien, the deputy public relations manager for McDonald's, acknowledged a drop of 10 percent in sales, while a spokesman for Domino's said there had been no impact.

In related news, health officials in southern parts of the island has been slow to catch up with northern counterparts in oil quality audits, said the media.

County officials blasted the stalled efforts in efficiently releasing information to consumers regarding restaurants that had been lax in their replacement of spoiled oil.

Ten vendors in Tainan County were found using substandard frying oil, according to reports.

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