Egg on the face as local firm falls foul of food safety laws again
This egg package has two production dates, one in a lighter shade.
The Pudong New Area Administration for Market Regulation officials check the egg packages.
A Shanghai company has come under fire again after more than 40,000 boxes of eggs it supplied to locked-down residents in the Pudong New Area in free gift packs were found to be substandard, the city's market regulators announced on Monday.
Benlai.com, the Shanghai-based online food platform, was involved in food safety violations for the second time in 10 days.
The salted duck's eggs were procured by the Tangqiao Subdistrict government in Pudong from the company and delivered to locked-down residents among the free gift packs.
In total, 41,000 boxes were procured by the government from the firm.
However, residents found the eggs had two production dates on the packages – January 2, 2019, and April 15, 2022.
Moreover, they found the egg yolk was black in color and then tipped off authorities.
Investigators of the Pudong New Area Administration for Market Regulation said that they found the production dates on some of the egg packages were allegedly fabricated.
The eggs were produced by Nanhai Food Plant in Gaoyou City, neighboring Jiangsu Province.
Egg samples have been sent for laboratory tests.
The city's market watchdog announced that it would impose hefty punishment on the company for its second violation of China's food safety laws during the ongoing COVID-19 resurgence.
Earlier, some pork packages in gift packs supplied by the company to residents in Yangpu District were found to have fabricated production dates as well.
The pork ribs were from Shangqiu Xinshengyuan Food Co Ltd in Henan Province. The packages were also found to have two production dates.
An investigation into that incident is still under way.
