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China food safety

Goji berries are used in food, alcoholic drinks and health foods. Photo: Getty Images

Chinese task forces to investigate goji berry contamination claims

State broadcaster reports use of illegal additives to improve crop’s colour and shelf life.

State broadcaster reports use of illegal additives to improve crop’s colour and shelf life

2 Sep 2024 - 9:37PMvideocam

Chinese cooking oil scandal prompts new safety rules for transporting products

30 Aug 2024 - 9:00PMvideocam

Arrests and fines in fallout from China’s cooking oil scandal

26 Aug 2024 - 4:41PMvideocam

Taiwan-made ice cream batch blocked from sale in Hong Kong over food safety fears

Shipment of ‘Brown Sugar Boba Frozen Dessert Bars’ found to have bacterial counts exceeding legal limit.

14 Aug 2024 - 3:26AM

A batch of “Brown Sugar Boba Frozen Dessert Bars” has been found to have bacteria levels exceeding the legal limit. Photo: Shaomei Ice Cream

China court punishes chefs who laced dishes with drug to prevent diarrhoea

Two chefs who injected drugs into the “rather unhygienic” restaurant meals to prevent diarrhoea have been punished by a court in China.

4 Aug 2024 - 3:31PM

Editorial | Safety comes first in Hong Kong stink over ‘local’ tofu

Demise of city favourite makes it only too clear food producers must move with times and ensure items comply with law and are safe to eat.

25 Jul 2024 - 6:15AM

Chilli brings relief for coughing man in China who thought he had cancer

A man with a persistent cough in China who thought he had cancer was relieved to find out that the cause of his two-year affliction was a chilli pepper he swallowed during a hotpot meal.

24 Jul 2024 - 11:09AM

A man in China who had been coughing for two years and thought he had cancer has been relieved to discover that the cause of his discomfort was a chilli pepper. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock

‘He saved me and the show’: China doctor fishes bone from throat of France opera singer

A French rock opera singer has thanked a doctor in Shanghai who was quickly, and skilfully, able to remove a river fish bone that had become lodged in his throat.

21 Jul 2024 - 10:56AM

Quirky China – ‘calligraphy’ swimming, fine paid in coins, poisoned woman shock

In the latest odd news from China, a man “writes” under water, another is sanctioned for paying a fine with bags of coins, and a poisoned woman scares her colleagues.

20 Jul 2024 - 4:37PM

Opinion | China food safety: consumer vigilance can’t make up for weak regulation

The authorities deal with scandals seriously, including the recent one involving cooking oil, but by then, it may be too late. Regulation and monitoring must be stepped up.

20 Jul 2024 - 10:25AMvideocam

A shopper passes by cooking oil products at a supermarket in Beijing on July 10. Photo: AP

Editorial | Heavy price must be paid for latest China food safety scandal

Shipping of cooking oil in fuel trucks that had not been cleaned raises health fears and further undermines public confidence.

19 Jul 2024 - 12:46AM

Cooking oil products are displayed at a supermarket in Beijing amid rising health fears over China’s latest food safety scandal. Photo: AP

Chinese truck tracker goes offline after users surge amid cooking oil scandal

Web users have been trying to trace the movements of trucks alleged to have been used to transport both fuel and food products.

13 Jul 2024 - 7:10AMvideocam

Cooking oil scandal may prompt China to tighten food safety policies

With limited censorship around report and harsh criticism from state media, observer says Beijing appears to be ‘facing this problem head-on’.

10 Jul 2024 - 11:56PMvideocam

China probes food transport after report says cooking oil sent in fuel tankers

State Council sets up investigative team involving several government bodies after Beijing News report sparks food safety scare.

11 Jul 2024 - 7:00PMvideocam

Several Chinese cooking oil companies have launched their own food safety investigations following the report in The Beijing News. Photo: AP

Famous China supermarket chain dishes out US$1.2 million after dirty noodle row

A renowned supermarket chain in China has paid out a total of US$1.2 million in compensation to customers after it received complaints about poor hygiene conditions at a noodle processing plant.

1 Jul 2024 - 7:00PM

The boss of a supermarket chain in China, which is renowned for its thoughtful treatment of customers and staff, has paid out a total of US$1.2 million in compensation following complaints about poor hygiene at one of its processing plants. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Baidu/Weibo

Toxic shock: restaurant in China caught spraying poisonous paint on BBQ skewers

An employee at a barbecue restaurant in China was captured on video putting a highly dangerous substance on utensils and meat products.

16 Jun 2024 - 10:01AM

Hong Kong must step up checks for prohibited food crossing border: lawmaker

Peter Shiu calls for public education as numbers for bringing in regulated food without certificates rose 55 per cent compared with 2023.

13 Jun 2024 - 4:22PM

Explainer | What are Korean Buldak fire noodles? Addictive spicy ramen goes global

Millions of people around the world are enjoying the spicy ramen produced by Korean brand, Samyang, which saw sales surpass five billion units last year.

30 May 2024 - 2:03PM

The hospitalisation of a US-based influencer after eating Korean Buldak fire noodles has thrust the product into the international spotlight. The Post explains what all the fuss is about. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/Taobao/Weibo

China fast-tracks edited wheat genome in food security drive

The edit, which helps the crop resist a common fungal infection, was approved within an unusually short period.

12 May 2024 - 5:50PMvideocam

Explainer | Why people in China still spice up hotpot dishes with banned poppy plant

The recent jailing of a woman in China for using ground-down poppy seeds in her hotpot cooking has stirred controversial memories about the plant. The Post explains why.

12 May 2024 - 2:08PM

China’s CellX targets global protein demand, adds biomass fermentation from premium mushrooms to product range

CellX started life as a cultivated meat producer, but is now diversifying its product range to include fermentation, paving the way for a faster market launch

4 Apr 2024 - 10:00AM

A woman tastes lab-grown meat served by CellX at an event to mark the opening of the cultivated meat company’s pilot production facility in Shanghai, China August 9, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Japan: experts met in China to ease concerns over Fukushima water

Discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea have been opposed by fishing groups and nearby countries, especially China, which banned imports of Japanese seafood.

1 Apr 2024 - 1:28AM

Aerial view of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan. Photo: Kyodo News via AP

Hong Kong’s Avant Meats to raise funds, increase lab-grown seafood production

Avant Meats is expanding its lab-grown seafood production capacity amid growing popularity of sustainable seafood.

29 Mar 2024 - 5:13PMvideocam

Deep-fried toothpick food craze hits China from South Korea, sparks health fears

A new snack craze in China, inspired by a South Korean eating fad, which involves consuming colourised starchy, deep-fried, and spicy toothpicks, has sparked an official health warning.

1 Feb 2024 - 4:22PM

Roaches, screw nails: foreign objects found in China’s takeaway food scam

A fraudster in China has been detained by police for operating a US$28,000 racket in which she claimed to have found “foreign objects” in food deliveries to extort compensation from restaurants.

17 Jan 2024 - 6:27PM

Police in China have detained a woman who has admitted she extorted dozens of restaurants out of a total of US$28,000 by falsely claiming that she had found “foreign objects” in food deliveries. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock

Green shoots: sky’s the limit for China’s GM crop market after landmark approval

China’s approval last month of genetically modified (GM) corn and soybeans is likely to lead to a quick and massive growth of a market for the crops in the coming years, analysts predict.

5 Dec 2023 - 10:00PMvideocam

The yield of staple crops like corn is expected to increase substantially with the introduction of GM varieties. Photo: Xinhua

‘Disgusting’: butchery by mouth video sparks China food hygiene debate

A video showing a butcher’s shop worker deboning raw meat with his mouth, and claiming the practice is a decades-old technique, has shocked and disgusted many people on mainland social media.

24 Nov 2023 - 9:00AM

Tsingtao urination video triggers China-made food safety fears in South Korea

Seoul’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the local importer of Tsingtao have stressed that the factory in the video is not connected to beer South Korea imports. But this has failed to appease some consumers.

25 Oct 2023 - 3:03PMvideocam

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China food safety

A crisis in confidence in China's food industry emerged after melamine was found in domestically produced baby formula in 2008. The scandal sickened 300,000 babies and resulted in six premature deaths. Other stories of fake eggs, diseased pork, recycled oil, mislabelled meat and more have only led to more calls for industry reform.

last updated:

26 August, 2024