Recently, many parents in Shanghai have taken to social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu to complain about the “smelly food” served in school lunches. The meals are provided by the supplier Shanghai Lujie Industrial Development Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Lujie”), a company with a solid background. Many parents have expressed concerns that despite the high cost of the meals, their children are not getting enough to eat, highlighting the supervision gap in campus catering management.
Numerous Shanghai parents have voiced their dissatisfaction on social platforms, mentioning that on September 15th, a dish of shrimp and egg stir-fry was suddenly removed from the student meal because it “smelled bad.” The meal set was supplied by Lujie, a company with an extraordinary background.
New Min Evening News reached out to several schools, and some teachers confirmed that such incidents had occurred.
Many Shanghai netizens have expressed their outrage, with discussions heating up among Shanghai moms. A parent of a third-grade student at a Shanghai primary school shared pictures of their child’s lunch, including discolored celery, sticky meatballs, and lukewarm rice, all for 15 RMB, delivered by Lujie. Several parents joined the conversation, saying, “My child also thinks this food is horrible,” with some revealing that their children had been eating frozen fried fish sticks for a week. However, some of the related posts and videos were quickly deleted.
The incident has sparked public attention, with parents reporting that despite complaints to relevant departments about the situation, an official investigation outcome has yet to be made public.
On September 17th, an employee of a delivery company in Shanghai told Da Ji Yuan that the smelly shrimp and egg dish was possibly due to poor quality sources or improper frozen storage. Many frozen products have been stored in the freezer for a long time. He further explained that his job involved assisting in inspecting and receiving goods (pork dishes). The ingredients for students and teachers’ meals are different and separated. Teachers’ dishes are fresh, while students’ meals heavily rely on frozen products and semi-finished goods.
The employee also mentioned that Lujie holds a leading position in the school catering delivery field in Shanghai and has strong connections in the background. Even if parents are unhappy with the food quality, it is challenging to switch suppliers as contracts are usually locked in advance.
He added that many dishes are outsourced to smaller companies below, allowing for blame-shifting in case of issues. Outsourcing eliminates the need for on-site labor. He stated that cafeteria outsourcing in schools is common. His company is outsourced by a large corporation, and it is challenging for outsiders to know if there are any shady dealings between the outsourced personnel and suppliers.
Regarding the food supply for schools, the employee noted, “It mainly depends on the school’s requirements and budget. The amount of money impacts the food quality, and both the company and the school need to take kickbacks. Once the kickbacks are in place, they turn a blind eye to the poor quality ingredients.”
Xiao Xiang Morning News reported that on September 17th, a parent named Ms. Shao from a primary school in Minhang District, Shanghai, shared her first-grade daughter’s experience of feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit during lunch at school. Ms. Shao also posted her daughter’s experience on “Tencent News Hot Topics.”
Ms. Shao revealed that after the “shrimp and egg” incident on September 15th in Shanghai, she became very anxious because her daughter’s school meals were also provided by the same supplier. Concerned about whether her daughter would encounter similar issues during mealtime.
On September 16th, when her daughter called from school, she mentioned feeling unwell after eating, “The food I had smelled bad, and it made me feel nauseous.” This alarmed Ms. Shao, who immediately had her elders pick up her daughter from school.
After returning home that evening, Ms. Shao discussed the lunch incident with her daughter again, who said, “Looking at the food made me feel nauseous and it was really bad tasting.” One of the dishes was extremely salty, and a radish soup had a strange smell that made her want to vomit just from the scent. Even back at home, whenever Ms. Shao brought up the topic, her daughter urged her not to talk about it, saying, “Mom, stop talking about it, just thinking about that food makes me want to vomit.”
Through conversations in parent groups, Ms. Shao also learned another piece of information: on September 15th, the school replaced a dish in the meal with a small bun, with photos showing the complicated ingredients list of the bun, including a large number of additives. “It contains refined vegetable oil, white sugar, various flavors, and feels very unclean.” Regarding whether replacing the original dish with the bun is related to the discontinuation of the shrimp and egg dish, Ms. Shao stated that she was unsure.
Another parent mentioned that their child complained about the lack of nutrition and taste in the school meals, with many fried foods and frozen chicken and duck meat in the meals. “As parents, we simply hope that our children can have a comforting, healthy, and nourishing lunch at school, instead of being deceived by stale and unhealthy food.”
Ms. Shao noted that the meals at her daughter’s school were also provided by Lujie, and the school has yet to collect meal fees for the current semester. According to parents of older students, meal fees may be around 15 or 18 RMB per meal based on past practices. Ms. Shao hopes that in light of the scandal involving Lujie’s meal delivery, regulatory authorities will conduct a serious investigation, and if there are issues with Lujie’s meal supply, they can switch suppliers.
A parent from Xuhui District told Da Ji Yuan that their child’s school did not provide bread or biscuits to students. On the 15th, the child said they were starving when they got home and had to eat two bowls of noodles to feel full; the child still wasn’t satisfied with the meal on the 16th at school. Therefore, the parent ensured the child had a hearty breakfast and brought two steamed buns to eat on the way, fearing the child wouldn’t get enough to eat at school at lunchtime.
The parent mentioned that the meals at their child’s school were also supplied by Lujie, and they were unaware of the meal quality. Even though the meal cost was relatively high at over 20 RMB per meal, the small portion of food left parents feeling frustrated. “As parents, we have no control over the meal quality, and we are not allowed to visit the school.”
Lujie has secured catering/canteen service projects in many primary and secondary schools in Shanghai. Official procurement announcements confirmed that several schools explicitly identified “Shanghai Lujie Industrial Development Co., Ltd.” as the winning bidder (such as China Middle School, Weiyu Middle School, Second Middle School, Baoshan District Yuepu Central School, etc.).
Some district-level notices appeared as “packages” (such as multiple packages for a district’s “food distribution project,” with Lujie winning one of them).
Shanghai Lujie Industrial Development Co., Ltd. was established in September 2014, with registered capital of 50 million RMB (paid up) and actual paid-up capital of 12 million RMB.
According to publicly available information, the legal representative of Lujie is Ge Junfeng, the chairman is Tao Xu, the director is Dong Xinyu, and the supervisor is Wang Ruya.
Lujie holds a significant market share in the Shanghai school cafeteria/student catering sector, covering multiple districts with a high meal supply volume.
Blogger “Shanghai Knife Brother” stated that the reason Lujie could dominate the Shanghai school dining market is primarily because they keep material costs very low during procurement. Additionally, though it may seem like they go through public tenders, they have more resources behind the scenes, effectively blocking many smaller, more distinctive catering enterprises, turning the so-called fair competition into an empty phrase.
According to Dongfang Net‧Zongxiang News, in response to the incident of smelly shrimp and egg in school lunches, Shanghai Lujie Industrial Development Co., Ltd., the provider of the meal set, mentioned that some schools reported fine sand in the shrimp, stating that “not all batches have the issue, and there are no other food safety concerns.” On the same day, the Minhang District Market Supervision Administration stated that they have taken notice of the matter and initiated an investigation.
Parents’ demands mainly include ensuring the quality of meal supplies is inspected and regulated, considering a change in suppliers if issues persist, and even if a switch is not possible, allowing students to bring their meals to avoid being forced to eat low-quality food.