A Taipei City resident complained yesterday about finding a "few hundred" insects in a box of "Mueslix" produced by Kellogg's, a famous US cereal company. The victim is asking for NT$2 million in compensation. Kellogg's issued a press release saying that the company is "very sorry," but also insisted that it must investigate the case before accepting any responsibility.
Taipei City Councilor Chen Hsueh-Fen (
Wei bought the box of cereal, which showed an expiration date of May 25, on April 9. She discovered "a lot of bugs creeping around" when she attempted to pour out some of the contents of the box.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"We are looking for Kellogg's to respect the need to protect customers. We will donate the compensation to charity if we get any," said Wei's representative.
Kellogg's has taken some of the cereal as a sample for chemical examination. The company claims that there is no problem with the production process but that Taiwan's humidity could be a cause of the problem. It says that it will accept responsibility if the problem is found to be the result of a defect with the merchandise itself.
"The bugs might be caused by Aftatoxin, which could lead to cancer. If the condition is serious, we would ask Kellogg's to recall all unsold boxes of Mueslix and we might even officially force the company to close its business in Taiwan," said Kuo Chuan-nan (
"We want to ask the public to take its consumer protection rights seriously. Western companies pay high compensation when they are held liable," said Taipei councilor, Chen Hsueh Fen (陳雪芬).
Under the Consumer Protection Law (
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