台灣近年來食品安全問題層出不窮，尤其以2013年及2014年接連爆發的「黑心油」事件最為引人注意。數百噸的這些問題食用油流入市面，受波及的民眾、商家無以計數，造成台灣民眾對食安問題的恐慌，更引起全臺撻伐。然而，令人好奇的是，迄今並無明顯確實可靠的證據能夠證明這些所謂的「黑心油」對人體有任何立即致病或致命的危害，國人的平均壽命比起其他發展程度類似的國家也並不偏低，如果民眾對於黑心油這可疑的食品安全風險尚無法接受，又為何大量消費各種已知、明知的有害健康的食品，並習慣性從事各種已知、明知有害健康的飲食方式？對此，本文主張，所謂「黑心油」事件其實只是商業詐欺，其食品安全問題並不是本身就特別嚴重，而是為了特定利益蓄意操弄炒作的結果，是意識型態驅動的政治與商業鬥爭。透過提供更多資訊的引導，並排除意識型態的干擾，民眾其實也可以用平常心看待這生活中眾多食品安全風險中的其中一種。 Food safety issues are emerging in recent years in Taiwan after the so-called “evil oil” events in 2013 and 2014, when hundreds of tons of gutter oil spread in the market, causing panic among the general public. However, so far, there is no clear evidence to prove that these “evil oil” products have any immediate pathogenic or fatal harm to human body, and Taiwanese people’s average life expectancy is no less than that of other countries with similar level of development. If people can not accept this dubious risk of “evil oil,” how can they accept other clear risks of unhealthy diet? In this regard, the paper argues that, the so-called “evil oil” events are largely business frauds but deliberately manipulated as food safety issues, which are political struggles and business competition driven by ideology. With more information and without ideology, people can actually accept the minor risks of “evil oil” like other ordinary food safety risks.
