China Probes 581 Firms, Restaurants As Food Safety Scare Spreads

A security personnel stands guard in front of the processing plants food inspection site in Langfang, Hebei Province, July 23, 2014. Shanghai Police said Wednesday they arrested five people in an investigation of a China-based provider of foreign fast food brands, including KFC and McDonalds Corp over allegations the company supplies out of date meat.




(Reuters) - China's food regulator has visited nearly 600 restaurants, shops and food distributors, and investigating a scare rapid spread of food security has been extended in a number of global and local food brands hit so far away as Japan.

Shanghai police detained five people Wednesday, including the head and the head of Shanghai Husi quality food, a China-based provider of foreign fast food brands, including KFC, McDonalds Corp and Starbucks coffee chain Corp over allegations that supplies meat out of date. Shanghai Food Husi is owned by Illinois-based OSI Group.

Yum Brands Inc, owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, cut ties with OSI and McDonald said the offer facilities for the new Shanghai plant OSI in the east-central province of Henan budge.

The Municipal Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that visited 581 related to the suspected food using expired meat from Shanghai Husi Foods facilities, and sent 875 personnel to conduct inspections.

Chinese police, local government and prosecutors are also involved in the case. Police have given more details about the detainees.

The scandal erupted after a television report on Sunday showed the staff at Shanghai Food Husi using expired meat while and gather food from the ground to re-add to the mix. Some former staff in the facility has told Reuters that supervision was lax plant, although other workers OSI management unit and those rules were very strict.

OSI said in a statement that local Chinese officials have inspected all other facilities in China and found no problems. The company apologized to its customers in China in a statement Wednesday. "What happened in Shanghai Husi is completely unacceptable. Going to bear the responsibility for these errors, and will be sure that does not happen again," said Chairman and CEO Sheldon Lavin.

McDonalds Japanese convenience stores and FamilyMart Co Ltd said they had taken some products from their shelves in Japan, which had been supplied by Shanghai Husi.

Chinese consumers are sensitive to food safety after scare a mortal milk scandal in 2008. KFC Yum saw slump in sales after a security scare food at the end of 2012 while Wal-Mart Stores Inc was attacked earlier this year from contaminated meat products.

Ten Provinces Among Targets Of Latest Anti-Graft Inspections

Researchers will also be sent to the institute of higher research and major automaker state-owned

Wang Qishan, secretary of the CCDI, said inspectors could investigate any location, department, company or sector in which suspected severe graft. Photo: Xinhua

Anticorruption chief mainland promised zero tolerance for corruption announces the latest round of inspections of equipment.



Wang Qishan, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said the new round was held to 10 provincial-level governments, a national body, top research institute in the mainland and a company owned state, China News Service reported.

It would be the fourth round of raids since May last year.

The inspectors fan out to Guangxi, Shanghai, Qinghai, Tibet, Zhejiang, Hebei, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Sichuan and Jiangsu. Special research projects would also be held at the State Sports General Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese state-owned FAW Group.

Wang said the inspectors could investigate any location, department, company or sector in which suspected severe graft.

The promise was that two senior officials from the mainland were demoted and stripped of his party membership of serious violations of discipline, said the anti-corruption agency.

The move is unusual because officials suspected of corruption tend to be handed over to prosecutors, but observers said the investigation could continue. Zhao Zhiyong, general secretary of Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party, and Zhang Tianxin, former party chief of Kunming in Yunnan, had committed "serious violations of discipline," the anti-corruption monitoring agency announced on its website yesterday.

Zhao was demoted to an entry level position, while Zhang was given a ceremonial post as deputy chief of the section - the third lowest of the bureaucracy of the mainland.

Was found to have taken advantage of their position for personal gain. Malpractice Zhang had also caused the loss of state assets, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said.

Their illicit gains were confiscated, the statement said, without elaborating. The agency did not say whether the two would be handed over to the judicial authorities.

An official of the discipline, who requested anonymity, said the two officials cooperated with the investigation and offered to return their profits, which could explain why only were degraded.

Chinese Police Inspect Gas Stations Amid Anti-Terror Campaign

Beijing: Beijing Police today began inspecting about 1,000 service stations in its latest move to end terrorism in the restive province of Xinjiang.

Over 100 teams will verify the safety inspection stations, as well as the management of petroleum products there, a police spokesman told the state news agency Xinhua.

Gas stations have banned refueling vehicles without license plates or registration plates of their covers, he said.



Special personnel shall be appointed to take care of the fuel pumps from which guests serve themselves while motorcyclists and disabled also designated staff to help refuel their vehicles, he added.

Customers are required to provide the relevant documents issued by the local police department before you buy gasoline in bulk, and asked staff not to refuel vehicles before making sure that the number plate of the vehicle is consistent with the number of the license.

"Gas stations are where flammable and explosive materials are stored, and it is necessary to ensure security there," the spokesman said.

Beijing police have strengthened efforts to combat terrorism following a series of terrorist attacks in the country.

China blames East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) for attacks in Xinjiang and the rest of the country.

On Monday, police in Beijing awarded 10,000 yuan (USD 1,600) a citizen to provide information about the smuggling of gasoline in the Daxing district of the capital.

Meanwhile, police are offering 50,000 yuan for providing puffs on illegal activities, including printing books on extremism, knives sale prohibited by the police, and the manufacture of explosive devices.

CPC Highlights Disciplinary Inspection Reforms

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) - The Communist Party of China (CPC) said its reforms of disciplinary inspection, as well as four former senior officials of the country were expelled from the party.

At a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee a plan of implementation of these reforms inspection, according to a statement issued after the meeting chaired by the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPC, Xi Jinping approved Monday.



No details of the reform plan were included in the statement.

Monday's meeting came as China's anti-corruption unit reached a new crescendo as four former senior officials were expelled from the CPC one day before his 93rd birthday.

Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, Jiang Jiemin, the former head of the State Property Committee on Supervision and Administration, Li Dongsheng, former Vice Minister of Public Security and Wang Yongchun, former deputy director general of the National Commission of China Petroleum Corporation, were expelled from the CCP, the Party Central Committee announced.

Calling reforms CPC discipline inspection a vital component of China's current campaign to deepen reforms, the Charter calls on staff at all levels to exercise self-discipline and preserve their moral integrity.

They must also take the initiative in improving their working style, building a clean government and fighting corruption, he said, adding that the secretaries of Party committees should be the primary responsibility in these areas.

Those who derelict their duties and will fail to improve the Party's work style and building a clean government will be held accountable, he added.

The statement also highlighted a dual leadership scheme designed to give more power to discipline inspection agencies.

Under this scheme, the local discipline inspection agencies should inform not only the Party committees at the same level, but also to control their body’s higher level in the investigation of cases.

The declaration calls for strengthening the leadership of senior agency disciplinary control over subordinates, adding that inspectors should also be sent to the highest level of the Party and state organs.

Also approved at the meeting on Monday was a document that contains the views of the CPC Central Committee on reform of the household registration system in China.

The statement called for orderly and good public services to be accessible to all people living in cities urbanization.

Competition, Tighter Inspections Hurting China Seafood Exports

The stricter inspection standards in key export markets as well as strong competition from Vietnam are seriously damaging Chinese seafood exports, which fell in the first quarter of 2014, according to a key government quality and quarantine watchdog.

The decline in export markets, "technical trade" and other problems faced by exporters of fishery products from China "can not be ignored," according to a recent article in the China Gateway (Zhongguo Guomen) published by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). article aims to Chinese customs statistics show that from January to April this year, China's exports of 1.14 million metric tons (MT) of aquatic products, worth USD 5.9 billion (EUR 4.4 million), fell 5.9 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, year after year.

The AQSIQ article - it promotes a better quality of Chinese exports and oversees quarantine and import quality - points to the newly strict inspection measures imposed by the U.S., EU, Russia, South Korea exports of aquatic products in China. In particular, it points to the new more stringent control measures in Korea, said that took effect on January 1. The article describes the AQSIQ ten categories of "pharmaceutically active substances" focused on Korea, including nitrofurans, chloramphenicol and malachite green benzopyrene.

The other major threat facing China's seafood exports, as the AQSIQ sees it, is competition from Southeast Asia - particularly Vietnam.

The article states that "the rapid development of aquaculture exports from Thailand and Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, is shifting our market share," and points to the official data of Vietnam for the first four months of this year show Vietnam It exported USD 22 billion (EUR 16 billion) dollars in aquatic products, an increase of 31.2 percent. "Exports to the U.S. increased 85 percent year on year to U.S. $ 547 million (403 million euros), accounting for 24.59 percent of total seafood exports of Vietnam ... while exports to Japan increased by 19 percent and exports to South Korea grew by 56.1 percent.” AQSIQ points to an ambitious goal of Vietnam. Increase exports to USD 8 billion (6000 million) to U.S. $ 9 billion (6.6 billion euros) 2020 "This will take some of our [China] market share."

China also runs the risk of losing market share because their costs of aquaculture continue to rise, due to increased labor and feed prices, according to the report of the AQSIQ. Is distinguished rises in the cost of fishmeal which he said rose up to 600 CNY ($ 96, 71 euros) per tonne so far this year, putting it at CNY 10,200 (USD 1,636 / EUR 1,206) per ton high grade Peruvian fishmeal.

Interestingly, the AQSIQ said the lack of well-known national brands of Chinese seafood and the need to do more value added to keep more of the value of exports of processed seafood in Chinese hands. What terms AQSIQ "profound transformation" currently represents less than 30 percent of exports of products made in China. AQSIQ is advising companies to improve their processing equipment, improve self-regulation of antibiotic residues while developing new export markets.

ACWF President Makes Inspection Tour To Guangxi

Shen Yueyue, President of the Women's Federation of China (FNM), made an inspection visit to Baise City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China to visit local children and send their best wishes to them before International Children's Day.



Shen Yueyue ACWF along with other officials visited a primary school in the rural area around the city of Baise. This school has been recognized by the federation of local women as "Happy Children's Home". Shen attended the recognition ceremony held at the school. Shen said at the ceremony that the FNM has donated 2.2 million yuan (U.S. $ 350,000) for the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. At the donation ceremony, Shen encouraged local children to study hard and get ready to make contributions to China's development.

During the inspection, Shen said the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council put a high regard on the health and development of children and have adopted a series of laws and policies to protect the rights of children and promote development of children, adding that women's federations at all levels must be fully aware of the importance of the issues of children and work hard to deal with children's issues.

During the inspection visit, shen also went to visit the communities of citizen based in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Shen contacted volunteers, ordinary citizens and officials of the federation of local women and listened to their advice about the work of women's federations. Shen said that women's federations should give a better service to citizens that serve basis and is a vital part of the work of the women's federation.

During the inspection visit, Shen also exchanged ideas with senior officials of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and thought highly of the achievements made by the Guangxi Women's Federation.

Vice President and member of the Secretariat of the FNM Zhao Donghua also joined the inspection tour.




Shen Yueyue, President of the Women's Federation of China (FNM), made an inspection tour of Baise City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China to visit local children and send their best wishes to them before the International Children's Day. [China Women's News / Yang Rui]



Shen Yueyue, President of the Women's Federation of China (FNM), made an inspection tour of Baise City in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China to visit local children and send their best wishes to them before the International Children's Day. [China Women's News / Yang Rui]

How To Verify A Chinese Company’s Legitimacy

I have a lot of emails asking “how do you check that the company is legitimate?” And usually I give the following advice.

The first question to ask is "where the company is located?” Many providers use a company name Hong Kong and give an address on the continent (often in Shenzhen) . Based on the name of the company often I can imagine where it is based, but that's not easy for most foreign buyers.

If the company is located in Hong Kong, the importer can find plenty of advice background checks on businesses in Hong Kong.

If the company is located in China, the relevant article is 6 tips for background checks on the Chinese suppliers. But I realized that I do not cover all sources of information in this article.

This weekend I read through past articles of China checkup, and I found some great resources. Here are some of them.

Chinese business license: an introduction
usually, a Chinese supplier has no problem sending a copy of your business license to potential customers. It is not a secret document. It is in Chinese, but it shows interesting data. For example:

•     When the company was established (does not match what they told you?)
•     Head office (is the same as it displayed in your signature? If not, do not have an explanation? )
•     Equity (if this is 100,000 RMB, you know you are not dealing directly with a manufacturer.)

How do you know if you're dealing with a commercial company or a manufacturer in China?

The title of this article is a bit misleading. I would like to know the nature of an out- that simple. But one of the fields in the business license is the nature of business (commercial, manufacturing ...). It could be an easy way to detect and disqualify an intermediary. But beware - many manufacturers also were involved in the trade.

Is there a China Company Registration Search the Web?

Unfortunately, there is a database with all registered companies in China. But you can go to the AIC (“Administration of Industry and Commerce " ), Search Chinese web sites and hopefully find some information about your destination.

Chinese company WHOIS domain search - how useful they are?

This is another method " no no cannot hurt foolproof ." I've never used and do not see me as reliable.

Using the analysis error level Photoshop Documents received from scammers

this is really for geeks! As I wrote before, many certificates provided by Chinese suppliers are false, so it detects “photoshopping " can only be a good thing.

Have other tips for verifying the legitimacy of a Chinese company?

Filed Under: obtaining new suppliers