Kaohsiung: The Kaohsiung District Court has sentenced a man, identified by his surname Lee, to four years in prison for selling chili powder containing the banned industrial dye Sudan Red. The dye is prohibited in Taiwan due to its harmful properties. Alongside the prison sentence, three of Lee’s companies have been fined a collective sum of NT$7.5 million (US$240,000).
According to Focus Taiwan, Lee was found guilty of fraud, with the involvement of more than three accomplices. He was also accused of publishing false product information online to mislead the public. The court sentenced four co-defendants, including Wu, the elder sister of Lee’s ex-wife, to prison terms ranging from one year and four months to two years and four months. The ruling included the confiscation of criminal proceeds amounting to approximately NT$21.02 million.
Prosecutors revealed that Lee was the key figure behind Gin Zhan International Co., Ltd., Hai Shuen International Foods Co., Ltd., and Chia Guang International Co., Ltd., and served as executive director at Long Hai Tong Ji Foods Co., Ltd. in China. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office stated that Lee and Wu imported chili powder from China, which tested positive for Sudan Red III. When the shipment was returned, they repackaged and resold it under different company names in Taiwan.
Investigators noted that despite the detection of Sudan Red in some batches, Lee and his associates did not destroy the tainted goods but instead instructed their sale to another enterprise. They altered manufacturing labels during customs declarations to bypass inspection and submitted samples free of Sudan Red. If downstream enterprises conducted tests, they switched samples to pass inspections. This method allowed them to sell 99,558 kilograms of products, generating sales exceeding NT$10 million.
Prosecutors also discovered that Lee imported preserved vegetables from China, falsely labeling them as made from Taiwanese cabbage, which he sold in physical stores and on e-commerce platforms. Additionally, Lee defrauded a company by selling fragrant spicy chili powder produced in China without the company’s knowledge, earning him over NT$10 million.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office has seized assets worth more than NT$134.8 million under Lee’s name and indicted six individuals, including Lee and Wu, and six related companies for violating the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and committing fraud. Prosecutors criticized Lee for neglecting social responsibility and public health, urging the court to impose a strict sentence.