Only weeks after 30-year-old expired meat worth up to 3 billion yuan (483 million US dollars) was found by Chinese police, another food security scandal was exposed in east China on Tuesday, involving an astonishing 32.68 tons of expired papaya.
The papaya products, mainly dried fruits made around 2010, were confiscated at a refrigeration house in Jiangbei district in Ningbo city, Zhejiang Province, and have been expired for over two years, reported Qianjiang Evening News.
Local government authorities have fined the company 1.4 million yuan (225,000 US dollars) as a punishment, but the name of the company has not been unveiled.
According to the latest trading records, 25 tons of the expired products were sold to a food processing firm in Suzhou city, Zhejiang’s neighboring Jiangsu Province. They may be used to make fruit juice and jam, said Wang Wei, a police officer responsible for the area’s market supervision.
Chinese police busted a total of 21 gangs smuggling frozen meat products in late June in a nationwide anti-smuggling campaign. More than 100,000 tons of frozen meat was found to be expired for over 30 years.
The low cost of storage, according to media reports, has resulted in rampant smuggling of frozen meat in China and Internet users on Sina Weibo, one of China’s main social media platforms, have been riled and urge severe punishments to solve the root of the problem.
“The punishments are too light!” wrote @Chongmingzhen.
“Well, is there anything safe to eat?” asked @YigeaitinggedexiaoAmy.
“All I want to say is, it’s not all about anti-corruption in China! Food safety is very critical to people’s lives! They are so rampant because the cost of the crime is very low!” posted @Xiaoaizhuanyongxiaomajia.
