Eight Shanghai bakery employees found guilty of selling substandard produce

Eight employees of Farine, a popular bakery chain owned by a Shanghai-based Frenchman, were found guilty of producing and selling substandard products, with six imprisoned, on Friday.

According to a verdict published by Shanghai No 3 Intermediate People's Court, two subsidiaries of Farine, a brand established by Frenchman Franck Pecol in Shanghai in October 2012, were also fined a combined 2.6 million yuan ($386,000).

The court did not, however, say what penalty Pecol, accused of inciting the eight guilty to use out-of-date flour to produce bread and pastries, received on Friday.

The charges against Pecol were handled in a separate case, the court said.

The scandal was first exposed in March 2017 by a former employee of the bakery. The whistleblower, surnamed Lyu, said the chain used moldy flour and that its storage room was inhabited by rats.

He said in social media posts that he felt "his conscience bitten by remorse", seeing so many people every day, especially those with children, lining up to buy substandard bread.

The court said in its verdict that the six found guilty were given sentences of up to three years, along with fines from 30,000 to 150,000 yuan.

Each however had between two and three years of their sentences suspended, while two of the eight escaped criminal penalty.

From December 2016 to March 2017, the two Farine subsidiaries made 2.81 million yuan in illegal profits, according to the court.

The court said that all the accused were allowed to defend themselves and receive interpretation services during the hearings.

The French consulate general was informed prior to hearings and ruling. Consulate officials and the defendants' relatives attended the court sessions, the court said.