Chongqing State-owned Food Company was recently reported for re-labeling 350 tons of expired rice and selling them to supermarkets and rural schools, causing wide concern. Recently, the related whistleblower disclosed the fraudulent practices of the food department through the media.
On October 12th, the Chongqing Market Supervision Bureau issued a situation report regarding the “Yuyang County Grain Co., Ltd. selling rice problem,” acknowledging that the company did engage in illegal activities such as falsifying expiration dates.
According to official sources, Chongqing Grain Group has relieved the main responsible person of Yuyang County Grain Co., Ltd., Mr. Duan, from his positions as Party branch secretary, executive director, and general manager, and subjected him to transfer and demotion.
In a report by the Huashang newspaper on the 13th, a whistleblower named Mr. Gong, stated in an interview that he had been working in the Yuyang County Grain Department since he started working, initially responsible for grain and oil storage, and later became the deputy manager in 2001.
Gong explained, “We were previously called the Grain Station, a county-owned enterprise in Yuyang County, under the supervision of the county Grain Bureau. The Chongqing Grain Group established the Yuyang County Grain Co., Ltd. on August 27, 2008 (referred to as Yuyang County Grain Company), with a registered capital of 8 million yuan, located in the light industry park of Banxi Town in Yuyang County.”
“After the restructuring, I was rehired by the company and signed a new labor contract,” Gong said. In 2021, due to raising concerns about unfair treatment and the company’s suspected sale of expired or near-expiration rice to relevant departments, he angered the leadership and was retaliated against.
Gong officially resigned in June 2023. During his time as an “undercover” within the company, he witnessed various sales schemes and kept evidence of them.
According to Gong’s disclosure, the shelf life of ordinary packaged rice is generally 6 months, while vacuum-packaged rice has a shelf life of 1 year. Yuyang County government had 350 tons of emergency rice reserves for use in sudden disasters, supervised by the county’s Development and Reform Commission, which conducted regular or irregular inspections, with the storage unit being the Yuyang County Grain Company.
He stated, “The company used a coding machine purchased online during market sales to repack the expired or near-expired reserve rice by self-loading or commissioning repackaging, replacing it with the company’s own-brand rice for external sales.”
“They would sometimes have excess stock that’s hard to sell, so they would have workers pour the expired or near-expired reserve rice from the warehouse into the company’s branded packaging and update the production date with the coding machine for sale,” Gong said, while simultaneously stocking new rice in the warehouse to maintain the quantity of the 350 tons of reserve rice.
Regarding the destination of the rice sales, Gong explained that after exchanging the excess newly purchased rice with the reserve rice in the warehouse, the expired or near-expired reserve rice was sold to county supermarkets, and particularly alarmingly, to rural schools to be used as students’ lunches, posing a health risk to the students.
Supply documents provided by Gong showed that such rice was sold to several local rural primary and middle schools.
One school’s relevant personnel stated that their rice supply channel was the Yuyang County Grain Company, which seemed formal with complete procedures, standard packaging, and inspection reports, but they were unaware that the rice was expired or near-expiration, making the school a victim.
“Over the past two years, they estimated to have sold over a hundred tons of problematic rice using this method,” Gong said. The company had a group where relevant personnel would send delivery notes to inform the destinations of deliveries that day, allowing for keeping records and estimating sales quantities – “Sometimes I saw them replacing packaging and falsifying records, but reminders were ineffective, so evidence was gathered through videos or photos, although it’s not the fault of the workers as they follow the directives.”
Regarding the reasons for the report, Gong believed that the practices of the Yuyang County Grain Company were harming consumers, particularly targeting rural schools. Many times he felt uneasy, so he reported the situations to the company leadership, hoping they would stop, but this angered the leadership.
He recounted, “I remember one time the leadership told me to report it, so when I resigned and recalled the situation, I decided to report it publicly.”
Initially, he reported to the relevant authorities in Yuyang County, but they dismissed his reports as untrue. Later, he made a public report to the Chongqing Market Supervision Bureau, inquiring about the progress, which they assured him was ongoing.
It’s worth mentioning that a report by Yicai on October 11th revealed a circulated report showing that Chongqing Grain Group’s Yuyang County Grain Co., Ltd. was accused of reintroducing 350 tons of expired rice into the market by re-labeling, with some ending up in rural schools, sparking public attention.
Around 4 a.m. on October 12th, Gong was awakened by his phone and received a call from a staff member of the Chongqing Market Supervision Bureau, asking him to quickly return to Yuyang to cooperate with the investigation team.
On the morning of October 12th, the Chongqing Market Supervision Bureau released a situation report about the “Yuyang County Grain Co., Ltd. selling rice problem,” stating that the company engaged in illegal activities such as falsely labeling expiration dates.