Food companies under watch

Shanghai authorities will continue to inspect four locally based food companies held responsible for selling fruit preservative products in the city that were made at filthy workshops in neighboring Zhejiang Province, the city's quality watchdog authority said Monday.

The four producers, Baiweilin, Laiyifen, Shanghai Yangyang Food Company and Tenwow, were found to have sold food products purchased from Hangzhou-based factories, which were exposed by State-owned media outlet CCTV last month for producing contaminated fruit preservatives that further contained high levels of artificial sweeteners and coloring agents, which exceeded safety standards.

The local food companies complied with orders to recall and destroy the contaminated products, altogether involving some 980 kilograms of fruit preservatives and another 1,740 packages of fruit preservatives, excluding Laiyifen products, which are still under investigation.

Authorities added that they were unable to guarantee that all products were recalled, Shen Weimin, vice director of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision, told reporters during a press conference Monday.

"It's impossible for us to ensure that all of the contaminated foods were destroyed since some were already sold and likely ingested," he said.

Yangyang Food Company voluntarily suspended production after failing to check the food safety quality of the fruit preservatives. It, along with the other food companies, awaits penalties.

Another six locally based food manufacturers, which were failed food safety standards, had their licenses taken away during the citywide inspections launched after the investigative report on the Hangzhou factories surfaced.