THIRTEEN people have been prosecuted for selling tainted food. Twenty-two other people, who were staff of a sales outlet that produced and sold the tainted beef tripe, have been investigated and prosecuted, according to Luohu District People’s Procuratorate, sznews.com reported Tuesday.

A stand owner surnamed Gao told the police that she was driven by profits when she bought the beef tripe at a lower-than-market price from the sales outlet and sold it at her stand knowing the food was not safe for consumption. She had already been selling nearly 1 ton of the beef tripe each day before she was arrested.

In addition, four officials have been investigated for dereliction of duty and misconduct in food supervision. “One official surnamed Zheng had known the tripe had problems and took photos of the tripe during an inspection, but was only going through the motions and did nothing. Later he even took a bribe from others and told his staff to close the case,” the spokesperson of Luohu District People’s Procuratorate told the reporter. “Because of their misconduct, the sales outlet that produced and sold tainted food could not be investigated in time. The bleached beef tripe was sold to markets in different districts, which not only pose health hazards to the public, but also caused an extremely bad influence on society.”

About 9.3 tons of raw beef tripe and 15.5 tons of finished products were seized on the spot. Additionally, about 1.32 tons of semi-finished products, 1.425 tons of sodium hydroxide and 0.95 tons of hydrogen peroxide were also found at the scene.

Related tests have shown that the bleached beef tripe was poisonous due to containing chemicals beyond the scope of food additives.

It has been reported in April this year that the case was the largest seizure ever involving poisonous beef tripe in Shenzhen. The tripe was bleached with dangerous chemicals and sold to primary and secondary markets before entering eateries and hotpot restaurants in Luohu and Futian districts. (Zhang Yu)