THE boss of an unlicensed noodle producer has talked publicly about hygiene practices at Shenzhen’s noodle producers, saying that many noodle producers have poor hygiene standards and use preservatives.

    The small noodle producer was shuttered by authorities after the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper published an article exposing workers sweating into the noodles as they were made in a small, dirty room before being delivered to breakfast stalls in the Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Park area.

    The boss of the closed noodle workshop, surnamed Shi, defended his company to the newspaper. Shi’s workshop distributed about 1,000 kilograms of noodles each day.

    “We changed the water that was used to boil noodles, but some of [the other producers] almost never changed the water,” Shi said, adding that workers at some workshops also don’t wear gloves or hats.

    Shi also described noodle producers using preservatives that kept exposed noodles from going bad for several days. Shi claimed that his workshop only used baking soda, which is safe for human consumption.

    The district’s market supervision authority closed Shi’s small shop saying he could reopen if he rectified the problems exposed in the recent report. Shi said he would make the changes required by the market supervision authority.

    There are no more than 10 licensed noodle producers in Shenzhen, the majority of them being small workshops, Shi said.

    An investigation showed that Shi’s workshop has a business license, but it lacks a food production permit. (SD News)