Food safety issues have been occurring in mainland China, especially as the new school semester begins. Several campus food safety incidents have come to light, including a case where a catering restaurant used excessive nitrite, leading to mass food poisoning among students and resulting in the restaurant owner being sentenced to 7 years in prison.
On September 11th, multiple typical cases of campus food safety violations were exposed. The Supreme People’s Court of the Communist Party of China issued a public notice stating that in March 2021, Hou signed a catering agreement with a certain elementary school, where his restaurant was responsible for providing lunch to the students. On April 8th of the same year, Hou used nitrite, a prohibited food additive, in the pork ribs served to the students, with a total sales amount exceeding 400 yuan.
After consuming the meal, 56 students developed symptoms of food poisoning such as headaches and vomiting, requiring medical treatment. Upon diagnosis, the students were found to be suffering from nitrite poisoning. Nitrite was detected in the pork ribs, pork rib soup, and vomit samples consumed by the students, with the nitrite content in the pork rib soup reaching as high as 1,396 milligrams per kilogram.
Due to the excessive use of food additives beyond the legal limit in the production and sales process, leading to food poisoning among 56 individuals, the defendant Hou was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined.
On the same day, another case emerged where a food supplier sought profit by substituting duck rolls for beef rolls in school cafeterias, resulting in a legal penalty.
From 2020 to March 2021, Luo unlawfully purchased duck breast rolls at 20 yuan per kilogram and passed them off as beef rolls, supplying them to a university cafeteria at prices ranging from 32 yuan to 44 yuan per kilogram. On March 2, 2021, the Market Supervision Bureau seized frozen “beef rolls” from Luo’s market stall. Upon testing, the “beef rolls” were found to contain no beef but duck components. Luo’s sales from the case amounted to over 120,000 yuan.
By passing off fake products as genuine and making sales exceeding 120,000 yuan, Luo was found guilty of selling counterfeit goods and sentenced to seven months in prison and fined 100,000 yuan.
Additionally, there was a case involving the misrepresentation of food ingredients and embezzlement of special funds designated for student nutrition meals by a public official.
In August 2017, Shi was responsible for purchasing, preparing, and distributing food ingredients to improve student nutrition meals using government subsidies. From March 2020 to July 2021, citing a rise in chicken leg prices, Shi unilaterally changed the ingredients of the nutrition meals without consulting the county education bureau, replacing chicken legs with chicken wing roots and instructing a meat dealer named Yuan (handled separately) to supply them to a certain primary school. Shi falsely invoiced under the guise of supplying chicken legs to obtain over 547,000 yuan in special funds, of which over 303,000 yuan was illegally kept by Shi. Ultimately, Shi was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to three years in prison with a fine of 200,000 RMB.
On September 12th, in Shanwei, Guangdong Province, several netizens posted videos claiming that on the afternoon of the 11th, multiple students at the Huamei Experimental School in Puning, Shanwei, suffered from physical discomfort and suspected food poisoning, requiring treatment at various local hospitals.
On the 12th, a parent named Mr. Liu told mainland media that students in grades three to six at Huamei Experimental School experienced food poisoning symptoms, resulting in them being hospitalized in multiple hospitals in Shanwei. Mr. Liu stated that the school did not initially disclose the food poisoning incident and only privately contacted parents, claiming their children were unwell and should be picked up. It was not until the parents took their children to the hospital that they discovered many students were unwell, leading to suspicions of food poisoning. Mr. Liu revealed that the children reported feeling that the chicken wings served for lunch at school were undercooked.
The Education Bureau of Lufeng City issued a notification on the 12th stating that on the morning of September 11th, 94 students from the primary school section of the Huamei Experimental School in Puning, Shanwei, experienced gastrointestinal discomfort. Currently, 85 students have returned home or to school, while 9 students remain in the hospital for observation. The specific cause is still under further investigation.
On September 1st, the new semester began at Shenyang Normal University, where many parents sent their children to school. After eating at the East Campus canteen, students and parents began experiencing symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.
Some parents shared on social media platforms, “When sending our children to school, we wanted to experience the school canteen’s meals. Upon returning home, both relatives and students experienced vomiting and diarrhea, and every clinic in the area was full of students from Shenyang Normal University.” They added, “Nowadays, children are eating out or just buying bread. When students want to take leave, the school requires a diagnosis and stamp to be provided, so they tough it out and attend classes. Until now, the school hasn’t provided a clear explanation.”