In the wake of the recent spate of food safety scandals, a former employee of the nation’s largest supermarket chain, Pxmart (全聯福利中心), yesterday accused the corporation of tampering with the expiry labels on its expired meat products, before reshelving and selling them to consumers.
Accompanied by New Taipei City councilors Chen Wen-chih (陳文治) and Chen Shih-jung (陳世榮), the ex-employee, a woman surnamed Chang (張), told a press conference in the city that she had decided to reveal the company’s illegal practice because she could no longer live with such “unscrupulous acts” on her conscience.
Chang said she had been working at the fresh meat department of Pxmart’s Hsi Sheng (西盛) branch in the city’s Sinjhuang (新莊) District since it opened in November last year.
“Sales at the store were high in the first three months, but trade then dropped off, and an increasing quantity of meat products were left unsold past their expiry dates,” Chang said.
The store manager then asked Chang to label overdue meat items that “still looked alright” with a different sell-by date and put them back on the shelves, Chang said.
Chang said those that appeared “problematic” would then be used for tasting or forced upon employees.
“I took issue with the store manager over this practice, but she said it was an ‘unspeakable secret’ at every Pxmart outlet,” Chang said.
“I had no choice but to follow her order because those who refused would be required to write a report, which eventually led to my resignation last month,” she said, adding that the illegal practice had saved the Hsi Sheng branch an average of NT$15,000 per month.
New Taipei City Government Public Health Department Deputy Director Lin Ching-fu (林金富) said the department inspected the outlet Chang worked for earlier last month after receiving an anonymous tip-off and although it did not discover expired products on the shelves, it did find 30 boxes of overdue meat in the freezer.
“Production and sale of expired food ingredients constitute a violation of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), which carries a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$50 million,” Lin said.
As the branch has allegedly altered food labels and committed forgery, the department has referred the case to investigative authorities for further investigation, he added.
Pxmart issued a statement denying Chang’s allegations and threatened to take legal steps against any further unfounded accusations.
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