Ting Hsin sorry for slow recall of adulterated oils
Wed, Nov 06, 2013
By Camaron Kao / Staff
reporter
Food manufacturer
Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) yesterday apologized for its slow response in recalling
21 oil products it made using adulterated oil from Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co
(大統長基).
Ting Hsin only
recalled the 21 products — sold under the Wei Chuan (味全) brand — on Sunday,
19 days after Chang Chi’s oil was discovered to contain illicit substances.
“We will take full
responsibility for the incident and spare no effort to protect our customers,” Ting
Hsin chairman Wei Ying-chun (魏應充) said at a press conference.
Wei said he had
not known that Chang Chi’s oil contained the illegal substance copper chlorophyllin
until Chang Chi chairman Kao Cheng-li (高振利) confessed to prosecutors on Saturday.
Ting Hsin said
the price of Chang Chi’s oil was not so unreasonably low as to arouse suspicion.
The adulterated oil cost NT$93 per liter, which is only slightly lower than the
average wholesale price of NT$95 to NT$100 per liter for imported oil, Ting Hsin
said.
The company purchased
the oil from Chang Chi instead of from manufacturers abroad because it only uses
a relatively small quantity of 30 tonnes a year to make its products, it said.
Ting Hsin subsidiary
Wei Chuan Foods Corp is to give NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) in refunds to customers
who bought the 21 products, Wei said, adding that customers are eligible for a refund
even if they do not have the receipts or have already opened the products.
Chang Mei-feng
(常梅峰),
the general manager of Ting Hsin’s oil division, has resigned to take responsibility
for the issue and the group will set up an investigation team to determine who else
should be held accountable, Wei said.
In addition, Wei
said he has also resigned as chairman of the government-funded private organization
that issues Good Manufacturing Practice certificates.
Wei Chuan bought
2.13 million kilograms of soybean oil from Chang Chi to make vegetable oil, but
Wei Chuan president Chang Chiao-hua (張教華) said his company stopped using that oil
in August.
Ting Hsin said
the company also shipped the tainted oil to China ’s
Fujian Province
Wei Ying-heng (魏應行), who is also chairman
of the group and Wei Ying-chun’s younger brother, said the oil used in Ting Hsin’s
fried chicken fast-food chain Dicos (德克士) is palm oil imported from Malaysia, as
is the oil used to make instant noodles under the group’s Master Kong (康師傅) brand and the oil
in the sauce for its noodles.
The group did not
take its products off the market immediately because two separate tests conducted
after Oct. 16 showed that the oil it used did not contain copper chlorophyllin or
gossypol, Wei Ying-heng said.
Structure of the Lead：
WHO-Food manufacturer Ting Hsin International
Group
WHEN-yesterday
WHAT-apologized
WHY-its slow response in recalling 21 oil products
it made using adulterated oil from Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co.
WHERE-not given
HOW-not given
Keywords：
1. recall：召回
2. illicit：違法的
3. spare no effort to：盡全力去…
4. confess：承認
5. suspicion：懷疑
6. refund：退款、退還
7. eligible：有資格的、適合的
8. resign：辭職
9. accountable：有責任的
10. tainted：受污染的
In my opinion, such big companies as Ting Hsin International Group should be responsible for the whole event because the food they made has a great effect on people's health. Also, the government should improve its ability to manage all these health-related issues.
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