Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday initiated a “China-free” campaign and urged the public to say no to Chinese products amid growing panic over the contaminated Chinese milk powder scandal.
“We call on the public to boycott any made-in-China products. Please choose high-quality Taiwanese products,” DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Ching-feng (李慶鋒) said yesterday during a press conference at the Taipei City Council.
It was discovered earlier this month that 25 tonnes of tainted baby formula made by China’s Sanlu Group and an unknown quantity of tainted products from other Chinese dairies had been imported to Taiwan, causing great concerns about the safety of milk powder, creamer and instant coffee after many products were found to contain the industrial plastic thickener melamine.
PHOTO: CNA
DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) condemned President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration for seeking to improve cross-strait relations while ignoring the safety of Taiwanese people.
“The Ma administration ignored the people’s health concerns and loosened the food safety standard for melamine to 2.5 part per million [ppm]. It’s clearly a gesture to please China,” she said.
In response, Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美), director of the Food and Drug Division of city’s health department, encouraged the shops to send their products in for examination.
Taipei City’s consumer protection ombudsman Chen Po-ching (陳柏菁) said the commission would protect the consumers’ rights and protest against the central government’s flip-flop policies for local businesses.
Those who have inquiries about food safety or want to make claims for compensation can call the telephone number 1950.
In related news, 27 of the 44 items posted on the Consumer Protection Commission’s (CPC) Web site as unsafe imports last month were Chinese-made.
Of the products, 41 were in the non-food category, including 10 toys, 13 machinery and electronics items, five chemical industry products and 13 other commodities. Chinese products accounted for 65.8 percent of the total in the non-food category, the statistics showed.
The main sources of the 41 reports were the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notices and information gathered from importers on goods that failed to pass import inspection, the CPC said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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