Duqing Co, the Chinese supplier of non-dairy creamer to King Car Industrial Co (金車), has admitted that its product contained melamine, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.
“Yesterday [Wednesday] evening about 8pm, Duqing sent the department an e-mail saying that analysis done by China’s Societe Generale de Surveillance Group [SGS] had confirmed that its products were melamine-positive,” department spokesman Wang Je-chau (王哲超) said.
The dispute began in September when King Car, which used Duqing’s K33A non-dairy creamer in its three-in-one drink powders, recalled 120,000 cases of its product after tests showed the powders contained melamine.
Duqing initially said its own tests showed that its non-dairy creamer had an undetectable amount of melamine. It sent a team to Taiwan last month to collect four creamer samples from King Car for further analysis.
The admission came just days after Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Vice Chairman Cheng Lizhong (鄭立中) told a press conference in Taiwan that the creamer was “melamine free.”
The delay in Duqing’s response led to criticism from legislators across party lines on Monday, who slammed Department of Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) over his agency’s inability to secure compensation for Taiwanese firms affected by the scandal.
During Yeh’s report to the legislature’s Health, Environment and Labor Committee on the food safety pact signed last week by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and ARATS, several legislators criticized Duqing for taking samples from King Car, but not making its report available to Taiwan. Yeh told them that since the pact would take effect on Tuesday, he would seek a response from Duqing within three days.
Wang said Duqing had shown a “very responsible attitude” in following up on the incident and that it had apologized for the delayed results.
However, he said the department would still “ask Duqing for a clear apology” for losses incurred by both Taiwanese firms and the public. He also said a demand for compensation would be made.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said responsibility for the whole episode was clear now that Duqing had admitted its milk powder was contaminated.
Although Duqing did not mention compensation in its e-mail to the DOH, Liu said the company could not avoid responsibility.
There was no deadline for compensation and the council will relay applications to the SEF.
Liu said SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) had expressed concern over the delay of the test results during his meeting with ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last week.
While Duqing has said it must wait for “instructions from above” regarding compensation, Liu said he hoped the firm would take its reputation and credibility into consideration.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
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