Amid a nationwide boycott of Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新集團) subsidiaries, the Greater Taichung Government’s Health Bureau yesterday said that four outlets of the Matsusei Supermarket chain (松青超市), also a Ting Hsin subsidiary, have allegedly tampered with the expiry date on its ready-to-eat foods and sold expired goods to customers.
The bureau said it received a tip on Tuesday that some Matsusei stores in the city had used expired ingredients to manufacture takeout lunch boxes and altered expiry dates on cooked foodstuffs.
“We immediately dispatched several groups of health inspectors to examine all of the 14 Matsusei branches in the city, of which four were discovered to have engaged in the reported irregularities,” the bureau said.
Among them was the chain’s Kuang Fu (光復) store, which fried and sold sausages after they expired, the bureau said, while the San Feng (三豐) store was found to have used expired ingredients to manufacture four kinds of bento boxes and to have labeled ready-to-eat products with a different expiration date after the original had passed.
The bureau said the other two stores were the Li Ming (黎明) outlet, which attached new labels with an expiration date of “103.10.14” on its cuttlefish balls when the original expiry date was Sept. 11; and the Ta Chia (大甲) outlet that was caught preparing to turn three kinds of expired cold noodle products and 14 types of appetizers into lunch boxes.
“The four branches’ conduct has violated Article 15 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法) and they are to be imposed a fine ranging from NT$60,000 to NT$50 million [US$2,000 to US$1.6 million],” the bureau said.
The Taichung government has halted the sales of all products manufactured by Ting Hsin’s subsidiaries at public schools and has issued a letter to all stores and supermarkets in the city, urging them to also pull the conglomerate’s products off shelves, the bureau said.
“We hope the entire city can join the boycott,” it added.
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