Biotech company prosecuted for selling filthy fish farm water as cure-all health drink

The owner of a biochemical product company has been charged with offences against health food regulations after an investigation into a cure-all product that was found to be made from filtered, but unsterilized water from a fish farm in Nantou County.

According to the investigation, the 73-year-old man, named Guo, raised freshwater grouper at a fish farm in Nantou County and opened an office of a biochemical technology company in Taichung City. Guo filtered feed residue and excrement out of the water from grouper breeding ponds, bottled the product, and marketed the unsterilized, dirty water as “marine active small molecule peptides,” with each 250ml bottle priced up to NT$2,500 (US$85.50).

Guo, a graduate of the Chemical Engineering Department of a technical school, according to reports, claimed the product could prevent or cure all kinds of diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s, tumors, cancer, liver damage, stroke, burns, and AIDS; while enhancing immune function, lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and more.

An investigation into the company and product began in December 2021 when consumers became ill after drinking the unsterilized fish pond water and filed a complaint.

Guo was charged by the Taichung District Prosecutor’s Office for offences against the Health Food Control Act.

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