Police seize tonnes of expired seafood in Kaohsiung

ANCIENT: A batch of frozen white shrimps found at a food company’s storage had expired in July 2005, while a batch of frozen mollusks had expired in 2012, police said

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter





Police raided the premises of a Kaohsiung seafood company that allegedly sold about 7 tonnes of expired food to restaurants in central and southern Taiwan, seizing about 51 tonnes of seafood, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday.

Officials from the Kaohsiung Department of Health, as well as prosecutors, participated in the raids, the agency added.

The health department received a complaint and began investigating Bai Xian Wu Enterprise Co (百鮮屋股份有限公司) and a rented cold storage unit run by its affiliate Yen Jing International Proprietary Limited Co (源進國際有限公司), it said.

Frozen seafood is laid out on a table on Tuesday after it was seized from a food company in Kaohsiung. Photo: CNA

Although they are registered as affiliates, the two firms are run by the same person, the FDA said.

Four types of expired frozen seafood products were allegedly sold to restaurants in Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi City and Taichung, the health department said, adding that it has contacted local health departments to recall the products.

Eighteen kinds of frozen seafood products, including 10 types with unknown expiration dates, were seized by authorities at the cold storage unit, the FDA said.

A batch of frozen white shrimps from Vietnam found at the unit had expired in July 2005, police said.

A batch of frozen edible mollusks had expired in July 2012, but the company still sold the products in May, FDA Southern Taiwan Management Center Director Liu Fang-ming (劉芳銘) said.

The case is being investigated by the Kaohsiung District Court, the FDA said, adding that selling expired food is a breach of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食品安全衛生管理法), and Bai Xian Wu could face a fine from NT$60,000 to NT$200 million (US$1,893 and US$6.31 million).