Hypermarket chain Costco yesterday said that it would not change its refund policy, despite the policy being used in a controversial campaign targeting products made by subsidiaries of the scandal-ridden Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
Costco said six of its 11 outlets in Taiwan have reported shoppers buying Lin Feng Ying (林鳳營) milk made by Ting Hsin subsidiary Wei Chuan Co (味全公司), immediately opening the bottles then asking for refunds.
The hypermarket chain allows people to return goods unconditionally if they do not like what they buy or no longer want the products, and it said it would not change the policy, despite the actions of anti-Ting Hsin protesters.
Photo: Screengrab from Facebook
Those buying and returning the milk ran into some resistance from staff and other consumers at one Costco outlet on Thursday.
However, online posts said that it was an effective way to boycott Ting Hsin, which returned to the spotlight after executives of its oil and fat unit were found not guilty of breaches of food safety laws late last month.
On Thursday, prosecutors filed an appeal against the not-guilty verdict.
In September last year, Ting Hsin was found to have imported feed-grade edible oil and fat and then refined and added them to their cooking oils for human consumption. That came after it was involved in another scandal in which a supplier labeled adulterated products as pure.
The group’s reputation was badly damaged and some local governments and schools began to boycott its products.
After the not-guilty verdict, National Taiwan University on Tuesday last week announced an indefinite boycott of Ting Hsin products.
The university banned Ting Hsin products in shops it runs from October last year, but not in shops operated by contractors.
During a press conference on food safety yesterday, Cabinet spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said that people have the freedom to choose, and Costco’s refund policy is its own business practice.
The government respects people’s right to boycott Ting Hsin, but does not approve of the tactics at the Costco stores, Sun said.
The Costco protests prompted Wei Chuan chief executive director Michael Su (蘇守斌) to pen a letter, which was released on Thursday, urging the public to think about the company’s 3,000 employees and suppliers who have borne the brunt of action targeting Ting Hsin.
Though Ting Hsin owns a 40 percent stake in Wei Chuan, the firm is publicly listed and is run by separate management, Su said.
Consumers’ Foundation vice chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said that Ting Hsin should not hide behind its employees and should know what to do with its stake in Wei Chuan.
Yu said a day earlier that the foundation did not approve of returning purchased Wei Chuan milk at Costco because it was a negative campaign that wasted food and created unnecessary work for staff at the stores.
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