Taiwan’s economy grew at a slower pace than expected last quarter as concern over food safety damped spending at restaurants.

Gross domestic product rose 3.78 percent from a year earlier in the three months through September, according to the statistics bureau’s preliminary data released today, compared with the median 3.9 percent estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists and 3.74 percent growth in the previous period.

The discovery of tainted oil in local food has prompted Taiwanese firms including Wei Chuan Foods Corp. to recall products and Japan and China to ban food imports from the island.