Expired Food Relabeled and Sold Again, Recycled Food Urgently Needs Legislative Management
Jianfeng Trading, which deals in European and American foods such as imported Montezuma mozzarella cheese, ARBELLA pasta and TABASCO hot sauce, was raided yesterday by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for selling expired goods to its downstream buyer Donghai Food Company, which relabeled and resold them; at the scene, prosecutors seized pasta crawling with small insects, imported goose liver pate and condiments that had been expired for at least 4 to 8 years.
But the operator of Donghai Food Company argued that the relabeling had only been going on for two years, and it is currently not ruled out that Donghai Food Company also bought expired food from other upstream traders; the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau has already sealed more than 100 Donghai products and the investigation is ongoing.
The Kaohsiung prosecutors pointed out that after three members of the Wang family, spanning three generations, from Donghai Food Company were brought in for questioning at the scene, they all admitted that they bought expired food from Jianfeng at one-tenth of the original price, then replaced it with new labels bearing forged expiration dates, and resold it at four-tenths of the original price to about 30 shipping companies and individual customers, reaping 3 times the profit.
Wei Renting, chief of the Food Sanitation Section of the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau, said that because Donghai Food Company sold too many items of relabeled expired food, the Health Bureau has sealed all the goods in the warehouse, and members of the public who have bought any should apply for a return as soon as possible. He also stressed that consumers should not focus only on the items currently announced to the public; special attention must be paid to all imported foods, whether wholesaled from abroad by Jianfeng Trading or bought from Donghai Food Company.
As for which upstream trading companies Donghai Food Company bought near-expiry or expired goods from, and whether Jianfeng Trading sold expired goods to other downstream manufacturers, the Kaohsiung City Health Bureau admitted that prosecutors are still investigating and that the possibility that other businesses are involved cannot be ruled out.
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