Taiwan bakery fined for deceptive ads

Top Pot Bakery, a popular chain that claims its products are natural and additive-free, has been fined for using deceptive advertisements, Shanghai-based Labor Daily reported on Monday.

The bakery, which is supported by investments from Taiwan TV show hostess Dee Hsu and her husband, was fined NT$180,000 dollars ($6,000) by prosecutors in Taipei. Its former president, Chuang Hung Ming, was charged with fraud.

The bakery has admitted that it used artificial flavorings in its products and promised to pay refunds to customers. Nine artificial flavorings were discovered.

The chain first opened in Taiwan in 2010 and expanded to Shanghai in March. Within the first few weeks of its Shanghai opening, store lines extended for hundreds of meters every morning as customers waited for the first batch of breads to come out.

The bakery said it would temporarily close its stores in Taiwan for three days for a "company adjustment". In Shanghai, in a public statement released on its official website and social network account, the chain claimed every product made by its store in Shanghai is safe and trustworthy and all of the ingredients it uses have legal certificates.

The Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce said on Sunday that it has been aware of the incident and would launch an investigation into the Shanghai store.