590
submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Public outrage is mounting in China over allegations that a major state-owned food company has been cutting costs by using the same tankers to carry fuel and cooking oil – without cleaning them in between.

The scandal, which implicates China’s largest grain storage and transport company Sinograin, and private conglomerate Hopefull Grain and Oil Group, has raised concerns of food contamination in a country rocked in recent decades by a string of food and drug safety scares – and evoked harsh criticism from Chinese state media.

It was an “open secret” in the transport industry that the tankers were doing double duty, according to a report in the state-linked outlet Beijing News last week, which alleged that trucks carrying certain fuel or chemical liquids were also used to transport edible liquids such as cooking oil, syrup and soybean oil, without proper cleaning procedures.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 50 points 1 month ago

Last major Chinese food poisoning scandal I'm aware of, that killed 8 babies, resulted in 2 executions, 3 life-in-prisons (including the CEO), and 7 government officials getting fired.

They take this shit seriously. Wonder how it'll shake out.

[-] geekwithsoul@lemm.ee 58 points 1 month ago

They take getting caught seriously, not the stuff they get caught at. Remember the government essentially has its finger in every pie so this kind of thing is not bad because it endangered people’s lives, it’s bad because it makes them look bad and might impact their exports.

[-] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

They take getting caught seriously, not the stuff they get caught at.

This is it exactly. They (gov) literally don't care if anyone gets hurt, they just care what the world's perception of them is.

[-] SSJMarx@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Are you calling for the CPC to indiscriminately arrest people on rumors alone? Because last time I checked "getting caught" was a prerequisite for any kind of fair justice system.

[-] doubtingtammy@lemmy.ml -5 points 1 month ago

They take getting caught seriously, not the stuff they get caught at.

Wut. I'm not sure if this is a distinction without a difference, or a subtle distinction that I need a better grasp on continental philosophy to comprehend.

It's like saying a state doesn't take murder seriously - they take getting caught seriously. It's technically true if you parse it a certain way, but ultimately meaningless

this kind of thing is not bad because it endangered people’s lives, it’s bad because it makes them look bad and might impact their exports

Something can be bad for multiple reasons. Also, there's multiple actors here. The operators of the state-owned enterprise have different incentives than the regulators

[-] geekwithsoul@lemm.ee 9 points 1 month ago

What I’m saying is that because most large businesses in China are either directly controlled by the government or run by ranking party members, someone in power probably already knew this was going on and didn’t care because it made them money. What they do care about is getting caught, made to look foolish, and ruining China’s ability to export cheap, unregulated, and often dangerous crap across the globe. That’s what gets you punished in a situation like this in China, not the actual endangerment of people.

load more comments (43 replies)
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
590 points (98.5% liked)

World News

38147 readers
3080 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS