Want China Times, CNA 2013-10-26
Kao Chen-li, chairman of Chang Chi Foodstuff in Changhua County, Oct 21. (Photo/China Times) |
The head of
a Taiwanese company involved in a major food safety scandal was indicted Friday
on eight counts of fraud, with the prosecutor seeking the confiscation of more
than NT$1.8 billion (US$60 million) in illegal gains.
The
Changhua District Prosecutors Office asked the court to give Kao Chen-li,
chairman of Chang Chi Foodstuffs in Changhua County, the maximum penalty for
his alleged violation of both the Criminal Code and the Act Governing Food
Sanitation. Two of the company's workers were also indicted, although the
prosecutor asked that they be given lenient treatment as they were merely
following orders when they put a banned coloring agent in the company's oils
and added cheaper oil to higher-priced products. The indictment came just 10
days after police, tipped by a whistle-blower, raided the company's factory.
Chang Chi
is one of Taiwan's major manufacturers of edible oils and it sells hundreds of
tons of Tatung-branded olive oil, sesame oil and other cooking oils to the
military, schools and households each year. According to the prosecutor, 48 of
Chang Chi's products were adulterated or outright counterfeits. They include
olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, camellia oil and hot pepper oil, which were
labeled as "pure". In fact, the prosecutor said in the indictment,
many of them contained cottonseed oil, which changed the nature of the products
without the knowledge of consumers. Cottonseed oil, if consumed regularly, is
believed to cause health problems, including infertility and cancer.
In order to
add color and flavor to the products, Kao also ordered his workers to add
chemicals, including copper chlorophyllin, to the products, without the
approval of the authorities. The substance was put in Tatung olive oil and
grapeseed oil to give them a darker, and presumably purer, appearance. Copper
chlorophyllin is banned from food products and is believed to cause liver
problems if ingested over a long period of time. Prosecutors said, however, it
was difficult to determine the effects of such substances on consumers' health.
Nonetheless,
Kao's actions have angered the Taiwanese public, as the case was the latest in
a recent string of cases involving potentially unsafe ingredients being added
to food products.
In the
edible oils scandal, people were duped into thinking they were buying quality
oil when they were actually paying for low-quality products that could
potentially harm their health. In terms of the grapeseed oil sold by the
company, the prosecutor said the actual content of grapeseed oil in products
labeled as pure was around 9% and the rest was sunflower oil. The prosecutor
asked that the court confiscate NT$1.85 billion (US$62 million) in illegal
gains Kao had made from his actions over the last seven years.
Kao was
released on bail on Oct. 18 after being questioned.
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