Cheng I Food Co (正義食品) was yesterday ordered to pay NT$9.36 million (US$288,524) in compensation to more than 3,000 people after a class-action lawsuit filed by the Consumer Protection Association of Taiwan in a tainted cooking oil case from 2014.
The association said the decision by the Kaohsiung District Court fell short of the public’s expectations, as the case was filed on behalf of more than 5,000 people, who requested NT$90,000 each for a total of NT$478.35 million.
“We are disappointed by the ruling and the court did not take into account the damage to consumers’ health, so we will certainly appeal,” association officials said.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
The decision was the first ruling on the case and it can be appealed.
The ruling requires the company to pay less than 2 percent of the total compensation sought through the lawsuit against Cheng I Food, a subsidiary of Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
Cheng I Food allegedly mixed low-grade animal feed oil with cooking oil and sold it for human consumption with packaging and marketing efforts to make it appear to be high-grade cooking oil.
Investigators said that Cheng I Food purchased animal feed oil from Hsin Hao Corp (鑫好企業), a one-man operation based in Kaohsiung, whose proprietor, Wu Jung-ho (吳容合), was a sales representative for Cheng I Food until he resigned in 2004.
Wu has been charged with fraud and breaching the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Presiding Judge Shih Po-hung (施柏宏) said Cheng I Food was not aware of the source of the products it purchased from the suppliers and therefore the company was also a victim in the case.
Shih said the compensation figure was based on the cooking oil’s use to prepare meals at 23 schools with a total of 3,123 students at NT$3,000 per student.
Cheng I Food yesterday released a statement saying that the company respects the rights of consumers and fully understands the importance of food safety.
It added that in February, the court had found the company not guilty of criminal practices in a related case.
The statement said that the court had agreed with the company’s stance in the just-concluded case that it was not attempting to defraud its customers, but that the “company was deceived by our supplier” and the “supplier sold questionable oil to our company and we were not aware of the situation.”
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
RSS