Prosecutors yesterday seized bank accounts and property belonging to the owner of a chemical company at the center of a food additive scare, a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) official said.
Ministry of Justice Prosecution Office Deputy Director Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) said prosecutors had seized five accounts and three properties belonging to Lai Chun-chieh (賴俊傑), owner of Yu Shen Chemical Co (昱伸香料有限公司) and his wife.
The company is under fire for selling clouding agents — additives that make processed foods and beverages appear more appealing or sophisticated — containing the banned chemical di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, or DEHP, to food ingredient makers nationwide.
Photo: CNA
“Since the plasticizer scandal, requests by prosecutors to detain three people — one from Yu Shen and two from Pin Han Perfumery Co (賓漢香料公司) — have been approved. Another person has been released on bail, but will be banned from leaving the country,” Lin said.
Pin Han was the second company found to have used a banned chemical in its clouding agent.
Prosecutors will continue their investigation to see if Yu Shen has other accounts, and they have begun to seize accounts related to Pin Han.
“To prevent the alleged defendants from hiding their assets, the prosecutors have seized related accounts and real estate,” Lin said at a news conference convened by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator George Hsieh (謝國樑).
Earlier in the day, Vice Premier Sean Chen (陳沖) and health officials vowed to adopt stricter regulations to manage the use of clouding agents in consumer products as the food scare that has beset the nation in the past week continues to escalate.
Invited to a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, Chen and Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) were pressed by legislators to adopt stricter measures to prohibit or limit the use of DEHP, and other industrial-use clouding agents in consumer goods.
“Our environment is filled with those chemicals, which permeate our food, drinks, dietary supplements and even medicine and cosmetics,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said.
“Rather than taking a long time to send samples of every product that is suspected of containing harmful chemicals for testing, we should instead solve the problem at the root cause and re-evaluate how we manage the use of plasticizer chemicals,” she said.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the time had come for a unified response across government agencies, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should raise the food scare to a matter of national security.
The DPP said that the health, environmental and consumer protection agencies should be consolidated under Ma or Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
“It’s clear that a national security level is needed,” Gao said.
Clouding agents, legal food additives made from gum arabic, palm oil and emulsifier, are commonly used in fruit jelly, yogurt mix powder, juices and other beverages to keep emulsions evenly dispersed and enhance viscosity.
Rebuffing calls from the DPP to turn the food scare into a matter of national security, KMT lawmakers said such a step was not needed at the moment.
“The DPP caucus wants to elevate an issue to a matter of national security at the slightest [controversy],” KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said. “They want to pin everything on Ma — it’s an absolute case of political manipulation.”
Adding to fears that more products may have been exposed to contamination, media reported yesterday that food and beverage stalls at the Shilin Night Market in Taipei might also be affected.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
SECOND SPEECH: All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist the CCP, despite their differences, the president said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday discussed how pro-Taiwan and pro-Republic of China (ROC) groups can agree to maintain solidarity on the issue of protecting Taiwan and resisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The talk, delivered last night at Taoyuan’s Hakka Youth Association, was the second in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. Citing Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui’s (蔣渭水) slogan that solidarity brings strength, Lai said it was a call for political parties to find consensus amid disagreements on behalf of bettering the nation. All political parties should work together to defend democracy, protect Taiwan and resist
By refusing to agree spending increases to appease US President Donald Trump, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to derail a summit that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte needs to run smoothly for the sake of the military alliance’s future survival. Ahead of yesterday’s gathering in The Hague, Netherlands, things were going off the rails. European officials have expressed irritation at the spoiler role that Sanchez is playing when their No. 1 task is to line up behind a pledge to raise defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. Rutte needed to keep Spain in line while preventing others such as Slovakia
RSS