Fake food scandals Several fake food scandals happened in Taiwan last year. The most notorious one is about olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil from Italy or Spain sold very well in the market. Some people noticed the phenomenon and started to make fake olive oil. They used cheaper cottonseed oil which is normally for industrial use and added dye to make it look green. They made huge profit (hundreds times) from the fake olive oil for 7 years. The other one is about bread. The businessman claimed that their products were made from natural food. However, banana-favored breads had no banana, blueberry-favored breads had no blueberry. The favors came from powders mixed with chemicals. This week, spicy hotpot (麻辣火鍋) jumped on the headline for using chicken-favored chemical powders. I believe that Taiwan is a gourmet kingdom, but it is based on a fragile ground.