Prosecutors yesterday searched Taoyuan-based Grape King Bio Ltd’s (葡萄王生技) production facilities and offices, and summoned several employees for questioning in connection with allegations of repackaging and selling expired products.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office headed the search at 10 locations in Taipei and Taoyuan, confiscating business records and documents at the company’s facilities, with the investigation focusing on fraud and forgery allegations, along with alleged violations of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
Grape King Bio is a leading local brand of biological products, medicinal drinks and health supplements, and was founded by Tseng Shui-chao (曾水照).
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
Although the company is publicly listed, its operations are mainly controlled by Tseng’s children.
An investigation was launched earlier this week after media reports quoted employees as saying that they were instructed by supervisors to alter expiration dates and repackage expired goods as new products.
The reports said that the company has in the past few years sold six products past their expiration dates, including Ganoderma extract pills, which are made from Ganoderma mushrooms, touted by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners for their health benefits and pharmaceutical properties against a variety of illnesses.
The company reportedly had more than 110,000 Ganoderma extract pills which had expired in 2012 and were relabeled with a new expiry date in 2015.
Food and Drug Administration inspectors on Wednesday conducted an investigation at the company’s production facilities and warehouses, and prosecutors detained 10 employees for questioning, including production section chief Chang An-cheng (張安掙), and business manager Su Chia-li (蘇家瑮).
Six employees were released after posting bail yesterday morning following questioning.
According to prosecutors, some employees admitted altering the expiration dates and relabeling expired products, but said they were acting under instructions from their supervisors.
Prosecutors were still questioning company chairman Tseng Sheng-lin (曾盛麟), his sister, general manager Tseng Mei-ching (曾美菁), and other company executives by press time last night.
News of the alleged fraud hit the company’s shares, which closed at NT$187 yesterday.
The company’s stock has plummeted 21.7 percent since Dec. 1.
Tseng Sheng-lin on Wednesday summoned company executives for an emergency meeting, followed by a news conference, where he denied the allegations and said all the products made by the company conform to safety standards, and accused a member of the Tseng family of spreading rumors amid a row to gain control of the company.
“The rumors are not true and we regret the situation,” he said.
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