TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Health authorities discovered during an inspection in 2021 that the “Shanlinshi High Mountain Oolong Tea” sold at Costco claiming to be a Taiwanese product contained more than 90% Vietnamese tea.
Liberty Times reported that a test conducted by New Taipei City’s health department revealed that the product’s tea leaf composition was 1:10 Taiwanese to Vietnamese. After prosecutors and the police launched an investigation, they found the source of the tea leaves was at a tea factory in Nantou.
Prosecutors were cited as saying that in April 2021, Costco purchased the tea product from a tea dealer in Kaohsiung. The owner of the tea dealership told investigators the product he sold was actually purchased from the factory in Nantou.
As the contract he made with the factory had stated he was purchasing “pure” Taiwanese tea, the dealer claimed he did not know that it contained imported tea leaves, per Liberty Times.
During interrogation, the factory’s owner surnamed Hsu (許) admitted to mixing the tea leaves, reportedly claiming that he had to mix 918 kilograms of Vietnamese tea with 90 kg of Taiwanese tea to ensure he could deliver the promised amount of tea as there had been a shortage in the market. He cooperated with the authorities in destroying the tea he had in stock.
According to the investigators, authentic Shanlinshi high mountain oolong tea costs as much as NT$1,465 (US$46.51) per kilogram while imported Vietnamese tea costs only NT$122. Hsu made at least NT$110,000 in profit from the fraudulent deal.
After the investigation concluded, prosecutors considered Hsu had no previous criminal history and decided not to press charges. Hsu was ordered to pay NT$700,000.
