The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit against Costco Taiwan on behalf of 135 people who bought the company’s imported berries that were found to have traces of the hepatitis A virus.
The foundation said in a statement that it was asking Costco to pay affected consumers a total of NT$11.07 million (US$341,466), or an average of NT$82,000 per consumer, in compensation for not taking precautionary measures in line with the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法).
When Costco was first informed in March that consumers in the US had tested positive for hepatitis A, likely due to eating the store’s frozen berries, it did not actively inspect its inventory of the product or recall the berries as a precaution, the foundation said.
Photo courtesy of the Consumers’ Foundation
Instead, Costco only removed the products from its shelves at the end of April after the Food and Drug Administration ordered local public health agencies to monitor the company, it said.
On April 10, the imported berries had tested positive for the virus in Taiwan during a border inspection and Costco Taiwan received word of the positive test the same day, but no action was taken, the foundation said.
The foundation said companies should take responsibility when incidents happen by proactively recalling their products and providing compensation to affected consumers.
It did not say if any of the 135 consumers in the lawsuit had contracted hepatitis A after eating the berries.
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
RSS