Netizens question McDonald's safety
According to a recent local media report, a boy found live maggots in a chicken wing while he was "enjoying" his meal at a McDonald's restaurant in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.
The staff of McDonald's refused to admit that their food had security problems. They said that chicken wings are preserved at a low temperature and then fried at a high temperature and it is impossible to have live insects growing inside. But they promised to send the boy to hospital for an inspection and give him toys for compensation, the report said.
While people still wonder where the maggots came from, a picture of a batch of bread stored in full sunlight in front of one of McDonald's Miyun locations in Beijing was posted on the Internet. The moisture in the bread had evaporated under the sunlight and condensed all over the bread's plastic wrapping. In another picture, the plastic wrapping was torn, exposing the bread inside.
A spokesman for McDonald's apologized for the incident, adding that the bread had been withdrawn and would not be used in hamburgers and that workers at the outlet had been disciplined for their careless handling of the bread. He promised to take measures to ensure this would not happen again, according to the Beijing Times.
Ji Baoping, a professor at CAU in Beijing, told the newspaper that bread in plastic wrapping could grow microorganisms within 48 hours if the moisture in it was evaporated by sunlight and could be harmful if consumed. He recommended that bread not be exposed to sunshine during shipping, as much as possible.
Why are foreign food giants less safe in China?
The consecutive negative reports this summer triggered Chinese customers distrust about these global food giants. People wondered why world famous companies with strict operation rules overseas become unsafe in China.
In addition to the enterprises' individual reasons, the lack of comprehensive food inspection standards and powerful enforcement methods in China is also an important reason, one Internet user said on his microblog.
Take Ajisen Ramen for example. In fact, this was not the first time the company had been found with food problems. According to a report by China National Radio on July 30, Ajisen's Shanghai unit was fined 787,000 yuan in May 2010 for using the additive sorbitol in its noodles.
From January to May 2009, Ajisen produced 4.8 million packs of noodles contaminated by the chemical. However, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision has not made public the details of Ajisen's additive case, and the company has yet to come up with a presentation to its investors.
In addition, KFC's powdered soy milk is also not unusual in the industry, according to food experts. Many chains adopt a system in which a central kitchen supplies partly prepared food to be finished at their branches. This helps keep costs low.
In face of the country's powerful consumer market but loose supervision standards, some overseas enterprises relax their management and safety standards in order to pursue maximum profits as they believe that they will be lucky enough to avoid punishment.
On the one hand, Ajisen Ramen's loss in the stock market reminded authorities to improve their supervision of the food industry. On the other hand, it also reminded enterprises not to play a trick on customers that could risk their business reputation.
