By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Newly released documents show Missouri officials were aware of concerns about a failed artificial sweetener company several months before announcing incentives for the business.
Questioning Tuesday by a Missouri House committee focused on an April 2010 email from a consultant in China to Department of Economic Development officials. The email indicated that Mamtek's artificial sweetener plant in China had never started to manufacture a product.
Other documents show that a patent attorney for Mamtek assured Moberly officials in June 2010 that a factory did exist in China and he had "an actual tested sample" of the artificial sweetener.
In July 2010, Gov. Jay Nixon announced a deal to build a Mamtek sweetener factory in Moberly. Construction on the Moberly plant halted this fall after Mamtek missed a bond payment.