Taiwan's toxic cooking oil scandal has moved into court, and the fight over who is to blame is now a straight political brawl between Taichung's mayor and the ruling DPP.

• Taichung prosecutors charged four food companies and 15 people over the tainted oil, and are asking the court to seize nearly NT$890 million in illegal profits.
• Mayor Lu Shyu-yen says the law should punish the companies, but keeps pressing a bigger question: who decided 20% of the tainted product did not have to be pulled from shelves.
• She wants the central government to set clear rules on whether Brazilian soybeans, flagged as a possible cancer risk, can be used for cooking oil at all.
• DPP city caucus leader Chou Yung-hung fired back that Taichung has become the weak point for both African swine fever and the bad oil, and that Lu owes residents an apology instead of attacks.
• Chou also accused her of over-collecting taxes and selling off city land while refusing cash handouts and spending public money on her own signage.

Outlook: The court case will grind on for months while the food-safety fight doubles as an early skirmish in Taiwan's next election cycle.