The past two days have seen a heated dispute between Yi-mei and the Ma Ying-jeou government, stemming from the Republic of China’s Food and Drug Administration instructing the Taoyuan City Health Bureau to inspect Yi-mei Foods’ factory in Nankan. Upon inspection, Health Bureau personnel discovered a large quantity of expired food that had been frozen, some dating back to before 2006. (For news, please refer to the Central News Agency article “I-Mei’s Nankan Plant Inspected, Kao Chih-ming Retorts angrily”)
Regrettably, I-Mei’s General Manager, Kao Chih-ming, directly escalated this inspection into a government crackdown, attempting to exert pressure on the government through public opinion—a tactic that always appeals to Taiwanese consumers (otherwise, this is simply a matter between I-Mei and the government, none of our business).
Below are I-Mei’s three-point statement:
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This incident was purely due to negligence on the part of warehouse management personnel. They failed to follow standard operating procedures, disposing of returned goods such as soon-to-expire or near-expiration New Year’s dishes in small batches, instead simply freezing them and waiting for a large quantity before destruction. The company has immediately reviewed and improved the situation.
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I-Mei does not sell any expired products on the market. Any expired products in stores, such as Lunar New Year dishes, etc., will be recalled in cooperation with the stores. This is a normal operational standard for product marketing and management.
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What is questionable is that our company previously announced its withdrawal from “GMP certification,” did not commit to joining the “GMP to TQF conversion” plan, and did not participate in the “Food Safety Month” activities held the day before yesterday (July 1st). Yesterday (July 2nd) at around 9 AM, the Food and Drug Administration instructed the Taoyuan City Health Bureau to send personnel, a total of 10 people, to inspect the Nankan plant for nearly 24 hours. By 8 AM today (July 3rd), this clearly indicates that the company was forced to violate the Labor Standards Act. Such use of public power by the government is regrettable!
Regarding the first point of the statement, if I remember correctly, when I-Mei used expired ingredients (cream) in their pastries, I-Mei also stated that it was due to human error and that they would “strengthen their review and improvement.”
They reviewed and improved, but the result is that their methods for storing expired food remain unchanged.
Chinese government laws clearly stipulate principles for restricting the storage of expired products.
Article 15 of the Food Hygiene Management Law states: Food or food additives that fall under any of the following circumstances shall not be manufactured, processed, mixed, packaged, transported, stored, sold, imported, exported, given away, or publicly displayed:** 1. Those that are spoiled or rotten. 8. Those that have exceeded their expiration date.
I would like to ask Manager Gao, if every expired item could be destroyed immediately according to the system, wouldn’t your employees have had no opportunity to tamper with the expired cream in the previous incident?** ** However, you’re still repeating the same old story about someone failing to destroy food according to regulations. So where exactly did your “review and improvement” go after the last butter incident?**
This time, you’ll be caught by the government, or, to use your own words, “punished.” The outcome clearly shows that I-Mei’s management had flaws from the start.**
I-Mei can’t keep claiming to be the conscience of Taiwan (see “Twice dodging food safety storms—I-Mei General Manager: Food is a matter of conscience”), yet each time something goes wrong, they boast of being leaders in food technology, claiming to have their own set of operating principles. How are you any different from those monstrous parents who always say “It’s all their fault”?
Regarding the second point of the statement, aside from the excuses in the first point and the political declaration in the third, this is the only relatively balanced statement in this incident.
In fact, I (currently) believe that I-Mei wouldn’t intentionally sell expired food. As for whether it might be mixed into other products, since the last butter incident, I believe no one can guarantee there won’t be any problems.
Suspicion and doubt are always the two hardest things to control in people’s hearts.
Regarding the third point of the statement, this is perhaps the most baffling “public declaration from a company” I’ve ever seen. For a moment, I thought it was a statement from a legislator or a politician.
The first half conveys its independence from government procedures through “announcing its withdrawal” and “not committing to joining,” with no apparent connection between the two parts. Then, in the second half, the tone abruptly shifts, claiming the Health Bureau violated the Labor Standards Act?
The connection between these two points seems illogical, yet a strong political undertone can be detected.
I have to speak up for the Health Bureau: they didn’t restrict your staff’s shift changes, did they? Or does it mean that every time they inspect or investigate criminal matters, they have to get eight hours of sleep, eight hours of rest, and then the last eight hours for inspection?
Furthermore, even if you withdraw from GMP and don’t intend to join TQF, it doesn’t mean the government has no right to inspect factories. Otherwise, why would so many underground food companies be working so hard, living in constant fear of being arrested (the idiom seems misused)?
If we follow Gao Zhiming’s logic, does that mean gangsters also have to sign a guarantee with the police not to do bad things, otherwise the police can’t arrest criminals?
Even if we take a step back and look at it from a results-oriented perspective, this factory inspection did indeed find that I-Mei illegally (Article 11 of the Food Sanitation Management Act) stored expired food, some of which was over nine years old, exceeding the generally accepted duration of “temporary storage before destruction.” I-Mei has no reason to defend itself.**
So what if they found out?
If the children of the workers who produced this batch of food were just born then, they’d be in third grade now.