Uni-President donates NT$30 mil. to food safety
Source : China Post
(http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/business/2016/05/10/465702/Uni-President-donates.htm)
The China Post news staff
May 10, 2016, 12:13 am TWN
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Processed food giant Uni-President Enterprises Corp. (統一企業) cashed in on their pledge to donate NT$30 million to set up a food safety fund, after Health Minister Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) revealed earlier this week their failure to do so.
Uni-President’s press statement revealed that the Health Ministry’s bank account for the fund had finally been set up. Stressing that they already had prepared the money since its announcement of the decision two years ago, Uni-President immediately submitted the donation.
The corporation was knee-deep in the 2014 Ting Hsin tainted oil scandal that gripped Taiwan, as 23 Uni-President food products, including its popular pudding and ice cream, were found containing questionable or unacceptable ingredients such as tainted oil.
In 2014, the processed food giant recalled more than 2 million units of alleged tainted dessert products and rolled out a four-day “buy one get one free” campaign in all of its retail channels, including supermarkets and shopping malls, to win back consumers’ trust.
They also promised to donate NT$30 million to help set up a food safety fund.
However, Health Minister Chiang, hesitantly said the money “seemingly had yet to come in” when answering a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker’s questions during a legislative interpellation session, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Wednesday.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) added that they saw media reports of Uni-President’s pledge. But the corporation had yet to make contact with the FDA, Chiang said.
MOHW Didn’t Give Bank Account: Uni-President
In response to the claims, Uni-President spokesman Tu Chung-cheng (涂忠正) stated that the money was already set aside in 2014 and was also authorized by their accountant.
In 2015, the company contacted the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, 衛福部) “numerous times,” yet they allegedly never received notice about which account they should wire the donation to.
Since the food safety fund required a special type of account, as well as a team to oversee it, health officials told Uni-President representatives to await their instructions once they set up the account, according to Uni-President report as relayed to the CNA.
Tu cited phone records from February and June in 2015, stressing that they can wire the money any time once they receive the account details from the MOHW. He expressed shock at media reports that stated otherwise.
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