China food safety oversight under scrutiny amid contamination reports

China is facing renewed scrutiny regarding its food safety oversight following two separate incidents involving contaminated or improperly processed food products.

In Guangdong province, a food-safety blogger released footage showing a processing site in Qingyuan using burning sulfur to cure fresh bamboo shoots. The video depicted crude conditions and thick white smoke that witnesses described as respiratory irritants. The Qingyuan market regulation bureau confirmed the site matched the footage and has launched an investigation. State-run media, including Guangming Daily Online, criticized the incident, noting a pattern where independent bloggers uncover safety issues that regulators fail to detect, suggesting structural gaps in the national food safety system.

Separately, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation reported that a batch of black sesame paste produced by Weiwei Huashan Walnut Industry Co., a subsidiary of the state-controlled Weiwei Co., contained mold levels significantly exceeding national limits. Testing revealed mold readings as high as 2,800 colony-forming units per gram, which is 28 times the maximum permitted limit of 100 CFU/g. Industry analysts noted that the violation indicates significant weaknesses in the company’s quality-control systems.