Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新國際集團) attempts to pour oil on troubled waters in the wake of its subsidiary Cheng I Food Co (正義股份) being linked to the second tainted cooking oil scandal in as many months have only served to fuel public outrage.
The conglomerate announced on Thursday that it would pull out of the oil-manufacturing business and that it would donate NT$3 billion (US$98.65 million) to the government “to atone” and help establish a food safety fund. The Wei (魏) brothers who run the group also said they asked Ruentex Group chairman Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) — founder of the Tang Prize — to lead a food safety committee for the conglomerate to evaluate the nation’s “food safety loopholes” and make recommendations.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Ting Hsin must not be allowed to close down its scandal-tainted connections until a thorough investigation of the allegations against them has been completed and the judicial process has run its course. Shuttered companies offer little recourse to consumers seeking compensation, or courts imposing fines, not to mention hundreds of employees who might suddenly find themselves without jobs or pensions.
The government should not accept the NT$3 billion offer. If corporate atonement is required, it should come through penalties prescribed by the legal system, not through a “donation” that smacks of an attempt to earn a “get out of jail free card.”
The government will need money, lots of it, and professional advice, to establish a more effective food safety system, but taking it from the very companies to be regulated is not the way to go. The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification system was supposed to be the benchmark for food manufacturers, but it is administered by the Taiwan Food Good Manufacturing Practice Development Association, made up of company representatives, and has clearly proven to be insufficient and ineffective. Why should anyone trust an association whose former chairman is Wei Ying-chun (魏應充), former chairman of Wei Chuan Food Corp (味全), Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業) and Cheng I Food Co?
Yet despite all the fury aimed at the Wei brothers, Ting Hsin and its affiliates — and at Chang Guann Co (強冠企業) and its suppliers last month — the public must remember where much of the blame lies — with a government that has prevaricated and dithered for years in scandal after scandal after scandal, and continued to insist that the GMP system is salvageable.
On Oct. 23 last year, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) vowed to improve inspections on food and beverage manufacturers and severely punish violators.
“Food safety is a long-term issue, and the government will catch the bad manufacturers one by one and ensure food safety in Taiwan,” he told a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting, adding: “The problems have been there for a while, but they began to emerge only in recent years… It gives us a chance to examine the long-existing issues and resolve them.”
A week later, on Oct. 30, the Cabinet announced it had set up a task force to conduct spot checks on food products and that products that carried government-certified labels such as GMP and Certified Agricultural Standards would be among the first to be inspected. Yet it was not the task force that exposed the problems at Chang Guann or Cheng I.
A year on and the nation is still having to listen to the same inadequate excuses from corporate executives and government leaders. How much longer must the public wait for change?
There are formidable hurdles to be faced in constructing an effective monitoring system to ensure food safety. Taping over the cracks in the GMP system and inspection process and turning to businesses for help is not the answer. Legislative action to establish an independent, government-funded inspection and monitoring system is.
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