Next time you pick up a brand name shower cream or shaving gel at a wholesale store, you might want to double-check the manufacturing and expiration date.
Products such as Vaseline body lotion, Zest soap and Gilette shaving gel as well as well-known brands such as Palmolive, Cascade, Summer’s Eve, Paul Mitchell and B & B Kids purchased at wholesale stores have proven problematic.
Taipei City Councilor Chou Wei-you (周威佑) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said he found some of the products imported by Dah Young (勇昌貿易有限公司) had false data about manufacturing or expiry dates. He has asked the city’s Department of Health to conduct an immediate investigation and for wholesale stores to recall all questionable products.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Chou said a constituent complained that a bar of Zest soap purchased at an RT-Mart made his skin itchy. The constituent later discovered there was no manufacturing date on the packaging.
A can of Gilette shaving cream imported by Dah Young exploded in Kaohsiung in 2006, Chou said, but it was never determined if the product’s expiry date had been altered.
DPP candidate for Taipei City councilor Liang Wen-Chieh (梁文傑) said the Gatsby facial cream he purchased at RT-Mart in Zhonglun (中崙) — also imported by Dah Young — had conflicting information on its Chinese and English-language labels. While the English label said the item had been manufactured in August 2006 and was good for three years, the Chinese-language label said it had been produced in October last year and good for five years.
The same thing happened with a container of Vaseline body lotion imported by Dah Young, Liang said, while a pack of Ivory soap also imported by the firm had turned yellow.
Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美), chief of the Food and Drug Division of the city’s health department, said the office would conduct an immediate inspection of the store in question and ask store officials to provide details of its suppliers and a clear explanation of the matter.
It would then decide whether to ask the store to recall the products, refund the purchase price to consumers or destroy the goods, she said. It would also ask the importer to explain the discrepancies in the English and Chinese-language labeling.
The packaging for personal hygiene items must provide details of the expiry date and handling and preservation information, as stipulated in the Act Governing the Safety of Skincare Products (化粧品衛生管理法).
Imported items must also have a Chinese label and display the name and address of the importer.
Importers of such products cannot alter the label, package or container. Violators face a fine of up to NT$100,000 and the products will be confiscated and destroyed if they are found to be harmful to a person’s health.
The Consumer Act (消費者保護法) also empowers local governments to demand that businesses improve the quality of their products or services within a certain period of time should they be found to jeopardize or have the potential to jeopardize the life, body, health or property of the consumers.
If necessary, local governments can order an immediate stop to the design, production, manufacturing, processing, marketing, providing or importing of the products or services.
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