Be alert to food near expiry date
Print Edition
FARINE, a downtown French bakery chain, was suspended last week for allegedly using expired flour.
Although no food poisoning has been reported, it is risky to eat expired food, said Gu Zhenhua, head of Shanghai Food Safety Federation and the former deputy director of Shanghai Food and Drug Administration.
Expired food can be edible but is not as safe as unexpired food. And it is illegal to produce and sell foods that contain expired material, Gu said.
The scandal, which was first exposed on Weibo through a whistleblower who worked in the bakery and took video of expired flour and dirty condition of the workshop, came as a shock to many customers who used to queue up at least half an hour at Farine, the once Internet sensation dubbed “the most delicious bakery” by local netizens. It was also very popular among foreigners living in Shanghai.
Gu said expired flour gets mildewed under certain temperatures because flour bags are not airtight and flour absorbs water from the air.
Mildew is not always obvious. In addition, aflatoxin, a kind of mycotoxin that can survive temperatures of more than 100 degrees Celsius is often found in mildewed food. It harms the immunity system, kidneys and liver in humans and animals, which could lead to the swelling, necrosis and bleeding of liver nucleus, or even liver cancer.
Food near its expiry date is safe, but the new rules require shops to highlight food close to the expiry date and sold at discounts.
Authorities are working on criteria to determine how many days before the expiration date the food should be categorized as soon-to-be-expired.
But in general, the longer the shelf life is, the longer the soon-to-be-expired period is, said Gu, also the former deputy director of the Shanghai FDA. So far, Farine’s four executives have been detained and all outlets are closed, among which the most popular Wukang Road outlet had made 1,113 breads with expired flour.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
