Chains apologize for expired food
By Li Qian |
October 15, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RETAIL giants Wal-Mart China and Carrefour China have apologized for selling food that had expired in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.
The Changsha Administration for Industry and Commerce investigated a Wal-Mart and a Carrefour store following complaints that expired frozen rice dumplings and shrimps were sold there, the Economic Information newspaper reported.
Officials said suppliers altered the production date to prolong their shelf life.
On a bag of rice dumplings produced in Hangzhou, the supplier printed a sell-by date four months later than the genuine one.
The administration has confiscated the expired products and ordered the suppliers to refund buyers 10 times the sum they paid.
Wal-Mart China and Carrefour China were also each fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,567) for turning a blind eye to the illegal practice.
Wal-Mart has promised to recall unsold products.
Supermarkets return packaged foods which are close to the end of their shelf life to suppliers.
But a practice has emerged where suppliers alter the date and return goods to retailers again, the report said. Officials blamed supermarkets for not being "gatekeepers."
Changsha authorities said similar cases are common and that they recently apprehended workers altering the production date of a beef product. "The supplier instructed it," an official was quoted.
A dealer selling code printing machines, who asked not to be named, told the newspaper that most codes could be altered.
A print machine costs no more than 20,000 yuan (US$3,134), another dealer said.
In southwest China's Chongqing, authorities discovered that since the beginning of this year Wal-Mart stores have sold more than 1,000 kilograms of ordinary pork as organic produce at higher prices.
Wal-Mart is said to have made 1.9 million yuan from the practice.
The Chongqing government shut 10 Wal-Mart stores that were involved and fined Wal-Mart China 2.69 million yuan. Police questioned 37 people, 25 of whom were detained.
Chongqing officials have pulled up Wal-Mart stores 21 times for false advertising and selling shoddy produce since it opened its first store there in 2006, including eight times this year alone.
The Changsha Administration for Industry and Commerce investigated a Wal-Mart and a Carrefour store following complaints that expired frozen rice dumplings and shrimps were sold there, the Economic Information newspaper reported.
Officials said suppliers altered the production date to prolong their shelf life.
On a bag of rice dumplings produced in Hangzhou, the supplier printed a sell-by date four months later than the genuine one.
The administration has confiscated the expired products and ordered the suppliers to refund buyers 10 times the sum they paid.
Wal-Mart China and Carrefour China were also each fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,567) for turning a blind eye to the illegal practice.
Wal-Mart has promised to recall unsold products.
Supermarkets return packaged foods which are close to the end of their shelf life to suppliers.
But a practice has emerged where suppliers alter the date and return goods to retailers again, the report said. Officials blamed supermarkets for not being "gatekeepers."
Changsha authorities said similar cases are common and that they recently apprehended workers altering the production date of a beef product. "The supplier instructed it," an official was quoted.
A dealer selling code printing machines, who asked not to be named, told the newspaper that most codes could be altered.
A print machine costs no more than 20,000 yuan (US$3,134), another dealer said.
In southwest China's Chongqing, authorities discovered that since the beginning of this year Wal-Mart stores have sold more than 1,000 kilograms of ordinary pork as organic produce at higher prices.
Wal-Mart is said to have made 1.9 million yuan from the practice.
The Chongqing government shut 10 Wal-Mart stores that were involved and fined Wal-Mart China 2.69 million yuan. Police questioned 37 people, 25 of whom were detained.
Chongqing officials have pulled up Wal-Mart stores 21 times for false advertising and selling shoddy produce since it opened its first store there in 2006, including eight times this year alone.
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