Laiyifen withdraws tainted food from shelves

Shanghai (CNS) -- Shanghai's popular snack food brand Laiyifen announced on Wednesday that it would stop the sales of all fruit preserves from three suppliers in Hangzhou that are believed to have been contaminated with excessive amounts of food additives.

During a recent inspection, the city urged shops to completely withdraw more than 7,800 kilograms of preserved fruit products from shelves.

Laiyifen claimed on its official website that it has halted supplies of the products in question from nationwide shops and will unconditionally accept returns of goods.

The Shanghai quality monitoring authority carried out surprise inspections of two local snack food shops, Laiyifen and Buy Well, and both were revealed to have sold tainted food.

The city's Administration for Industry and Commerce sent 858 inspectors to preserved fruit stores, including 688 Laiyifen shops and 927 supermarkets, and urged immediate action be taken by merchants jeopardizing food safety.