Costco yesterday said it would pay the medical expenses of anyone who became ill as a result of eating imported cheese it sold containing a potentially carcinogenic compound, on the condition that a doctor confirms the illness was directly caused by the cheese.
The offer came two days after health authorities confirmed they had ordered the US wholesaler to recall more than 750kg of Formaggio-brand marinated mozzarella found to contain ethylene oxide, a chemical compound linked to lymphoma and leukemia.
The chemical, which is banned for use in food products in Taiwan, is used in the US in the sterilization of some spices, dried herbs and dried vegetables.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government
Costco said in a statement that vanilla in the cheese was processed with the chemical, and it promised to inspect all products containing vanilla.
The company said it had spoken to its suppliers about the issue and would begin screening for ethylene oxide in all cheeses and spreads that contain herbs during its annual product safety tests.
It also said it would fully cover the medical expenses of anyone who became sick from the cheese, as long as a doctor confirmed their symptoms were related to the product, while continuing to offer full refunds to 1,300 store members who purchased the affected product between May 24 and July 1.
The Kaohsiung Department of Health on Sunday said it confirmed that two Costco stores and 13 supermarkets in the city were not selling the affected brand.
As of Saturday, 9.25kg of the mozzarella had been recalled from Costco stores around Taiwan, it said in a statement, adding that it had ordered retailers to inform buyers of the discovery and to remind them not to eat or resell the cheese.
After detecting ethylene oxide in a shipment of the Formaggio-brand marinated mozzarella on June 26 in border checks, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered the Kaohsiung health department to inspect a separate 913.9kg batch of the product already in Costco’s possession, it said.
The department detected the chemical in that product before ordering the recall, it said.
Only 156.4kg of that shipment remained in storage, meaning that potentially 756.6kg had been sold, the department said.
Costco could be fined NT$60,000 to NT$200 million (US$1,912 to US$6.4 million), under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said that Costco was failing to take responsibility for its products amid a series of recalls the wholesaler has issued over the past few months.
Costco previously recalled multiple varieties of frozen blueberries and strawberries sold under its Kirkland Signature label in April and May due to hepatitis A contamination.
In all three of these instances, Costco had refunded customers only the price of purchase and declined to pay any type of additional compensation, the foundation said.
Meanwhile, the company’s requirement that customers present their receipt and membership card to receive a refund demonstrates “a complete lack of the kind of regret and responsibility that should be shown,” it said.
The foundation also called on the company to build a large-scale food testing lab to regularly screen its products to prevent such incidents.
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