Made-in-Taiwan foodstuff zone enjoys booming sales
Written by changthai11 on Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Made-in-Taiwan foodstuff zone enjoys booming sales
A hypermart chain store in the southern port city of Kaohsiung has seen its sales triple since it established an exclusive “made-in-Taiwan foodstuff” retailing zone earlier this month amid a melamine scare, market sources said Wednesday.
The Dollar hypermart’s Mintsu store cooperated with the Kaohsiung city government to create the special zone for the exclusive sale of Taiwan-made foodstuffs after reports of imports of a shipment of melamine-adulterated milk powder from China caused panic among local consumers.
With consumers’ confidence undermined by Chinese food suppliers’ unscrupulous business practices, foodstuff sales at local stores were being seriously affected, according to market sources.
The Kaohsiung city government then offered to help food retailers set up special zones for melamine-free made-in-Taiwan foodstuffs.
Store operators are required to produce documents showing that none of their food ingredients came from China and to send samples of their products for food safety testing.
The Dollar hypernmart’s Mintsu store was the first to respond to the city government’s call for cooperation in setting up an exclusive Taiwan foodstuff zone to more easily attract health-conscious consumers.
The store sent 60-plus items for testing and more than 30 proved to be melamine-free. Since the melamine-free products were put on sale in the special “made-in-Taiwan foodstuff” zone, sales of those products have increased threefold on average, a store spokesman said.
Many other supermarket and hypermarket chains and bakeries in the city are expected to follow suit in the near future, a city official said.
Melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers, has been widely used in China to spike watered-down milk to mask the resulting protein deficiency and fool quality tests.
Melamine contamination of baby formula has been blamed for the deaths of at least four infants and kidney illnesses in more than 53,000 children in China.
A shipment of 25 tons of milk powder imported into Taiwan from China earlier this year has also caused a stir in the local food market and led to the resignation of Lin Fang-yue as DOH minister late last month.
