A New Taipei City pharmacist reported that a shipment of masks from a local supplier contained more than 3 million that were made in China, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.
The pharmacist in Sanchong District (三重), who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that one package was labeled with simplified Chinese characters that read: “Made in Anhui Province,” the FDA said.
The shipment was from Carry Hi-tech Co (加利科技) in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), it said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The FDA said that it collaborated with the New Taipei City Field Office of the Investigation Bureau and the New Taipei City Department of Health to conduct a search of the factory, where investigators found non-medical masks labeled as made in China and import documents.
Some of the masks bore the words “Carry mask,” which might have been an attempt to disguise where they were made, the FDA said.
The documents showed that the factory last month imported about 3.37 million non-medical masks and that they had been mixed with medical ones in the government’s rationing system, the FDA said.
The factory provides masks to pharmacies and public health centers in the city’s Bali, Linkou (林口), Lujhou (蘆洲), Sanchong, Sanzhi (三芝), Shihmen (石門), Sinjhuang (新莊), Taishan (泰山), Tamsui (淡水) and Wugu (五股) districts, it said.
Some shipments also went to Yilan County and Taipei, it added.
The factory has been shut down and barred from shipping any more masks, the FDA said, adding that the investigation would continue.
The company faces a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$2 million (US$1,016 to US$67,725), it said.
From today to Friday next week, people who have purchased masks with the words “carry mask” can exchange them for new ones at locations in the real-name mask registration system, it said.
The New Taipei City Consumer Protection Office said that pharmacies participating in the real-name registration system check the quantity and quality of masks to help avoid disputes.
The office said that it has ordered the city’s pharmacists and the New Taipei City Pharmacists’ Association to conduct thorough checks to keep problematic masks out of circulation.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that since the government’s mask-rationing system began allowing masks to sold without restrictions, it has kept close tabs on imports and exports.
“It is true that most of Taiwan’s imported masks come from China,” Wang said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs would work closely with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to prevent suppliers from intentionally mixing Chinese-made masks with locally produced ones.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event yesterday, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that there is an ongoing probe into a similar case involving another mask supplier.
Chen did not name the company.
A potential solution is to label every locally made mask with “Made in Taiwan,” but further discussions are required, he said.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS