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Bakeries file suit against importer in melamine case

Four bakeries yesterday filed a civil lawsuit against New Tai Milk Productions (台紐乳品股份有限公司) for compensation, claiming the company’s import and sale of milk powder tainted with melamine had a serious impact on their business.

One of the four bakers, Ho Kuan-ching (何冠青), said that since the melamine scare began, they had yet to receive a “goodwill response” from New Tai, except for blaming Sanlu Group Co milk powder from China.

“I don’t understand why the importing company is not seeking compensation from Sanlu,” Ho said. “We take action against that firm because we hope it will force it to seek compensation from Sanlu.”

Earlier last month, Chinese authorities informed Taiwan that a shipment of 25 tonnes of Sanlu-brand milk powder imported in June was contaminated with melamine.

The bakeries, accompanied by Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) secretary-general Lin Jhi-jia (林志嘉), filed the lawsuit yesterday. The TSU had previously said it had created a seven-member panel of attorneys to help victims of melamine-contaminated milk powder seek compensation from the Chinese manufacturer and Taiwanese importers of the product.

Lin said that more than 10 bakeries and manufacturers had contacted the party in the hope that the TSU could help them file a lawsuit.

This is just the beginning, he said.

Lin did not reveal the nature of the compensation being sought.

At a separate setting yesterday, Department of Health minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said China’s Duqing Co had yet to provide any explanation about the test results of samples brought back to China for melamine testing. Duqing maintains its products were melamine-free.

The only thing the department has heard so far, Yeh said, is that they need to “work out [some] problems.”

Asked if the department would set a deadline for Duqing to provide an explanation, Yeh said it had already asked Duqing to speed up the process and that management of the melamine scandal “is an art.”

On Sept. 21, King Car Industrial Co (金車股份有限公司) recalled 120,000 cases of three-in-one instant coffee and instant soup products after it discovered the products contained melamine-contaminated creamer material produced by Duqing.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Food and Drug Analysis, the Food Industry Research and Development Institute and the Taoyuan County Health Bureau all confirmed that the tested samples contained melamine.

Duqing representatives were dispatched to Taiwan earlier this month and took samples at the King Car warehouse for analysis.

Yeh says the government will help affected Taiwanese companies request compensation from China.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, a second batch of Chinese eggs has been found to contain an excessive amount of melamine, the Hong Kong government said.

The latest batch was processed by Jingshan Pengchang Agricultural Product Co in Hebei Province, the Hong Kong government said in a statement on Tuesday.

The eggs contained melamine at a concentration of 2.9 parts per million (ppm). The legal limit for melamine in foodstuffs in Hong Kong is 2.5ppm.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP
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