The Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) yesterday fined the manufacturer of the popular brand Pure Silken Tofu for producing what the commission called “future food” — food products inaccurately labeled with a manufacturing date set in the future.
On Mar. 23, CPC officials conducted a surprise inspection of eight food processing plants in six cities and counties after receiving an anonymous tip-off that some manufacturers put false information on their food product labels.
Officials discovered “future food” at Hua Shang Food Enterprise (華上食品), the manufacturer of Pure Silken Tofu, which is mainly sold through Costco stores.
“We saw the packets were labeled with manufacturing dates of Mar. 27, 2010, but we inspected the company on Mar. 23,” said Wu Cheng-hsueh (吳政學), a section chief at the commission.
“When a company labels the manufacturing date as four days ahead of the actual manufacturing date, it misleads customers into believing the tofu they purchase was actually made on the day they saw it on the supermarket shelves,” he said.
Wu said some firms used false manufacturing dates because it takes a few days for them to ship products to distributors and retailers, where they are then stocked, categorized and put on shelves.
“In order to present the foods as ‘freshly made,’ some companies resort to production of ‘future food,’” he said.
The commission instructed local health authorities to fine Hua Shang between NT$40,000 and NT$200,000 for violation of the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法).
Consumer Ombudsman Chang Chia-lin (張嘉麟) also pointed the finger at Costco, the main outlet for Pure Silken Tofu, and demanded that the chain explain whether it was aware that its suppliers were engaging in illegal practices.
In response, Hua Shang vice president Cheng An-he (成安和) said the company did not manufacture “future tofu.”
Cheng said the company’s foreign workers misunderstood instructions they were given and typed the incorrect labels. He said the incorrectly labeled products were not meant to be shipped to retailers, despite evidence to the contrary, obtained by the CPC.
Costco did not return calls seeking comment on the matter.
In other consumer-related news, the Consumers’ Foundation yesterday called for authorities to establish a set of standards governing LED sales after an investigation showed that a majority of the LED equipment for bicycles was substandard.
In January, the foundation inspected 15 types of LED bicycle lights on the market, including eight different headlights and seven rear lights. The lights ranged in price from about NT$100 to more than NT$1,000 and are sold in a variety of locations, from retail chains to bicycle gear shops.
“All but four of the LED lights inspected by the foundation had product labels on par with ISO6742-1 international standards,” Consumers’ Foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said. “Some of the equipment only had labels in English, while others lacked certain necessary information.”
The foundation said LED lights for bicycles varied in luminosity. In general, high luminosity is preferable at night, while glare can be prevented by keeping lights angled downwards rather than at eye level, Hsieh said.
The issue of inadequate standards governing bicycle headlights and rear lights caught the foundation’s attention as traffic accidents resulting from visibility problems for bicycles are on the rise.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS