Oversight toughened on lockdown food supplies

Shanghai police, market watchdogs and discipline supervisors have vowed to strengthen oversight on food quality and distribution during the current COVID-19 outbreak in the city.

Since the citywide lockdown began on April 1, subdistrict governments have been distributing free food packages to guarantee food supplies for residents under lockdown. Yet some residents have reported that they received poor quality foods or products from suspicious suppliers.

The administration for market regulation on Saturday said it will step up supervision and inspection. The administration has started investigating the producer of Longren bean vermicelli, whose business certificate was canceled in 2020, but products from that producer dated in 2022 were still included in the free food package for residents in Hongqiao township, Minhang district.

The commerce commission also urged its district-level branches to enhance reviews of the licenses and qualifications of suppliers of free gift packs.

"Companies will be removed from the list of suppliers and be investigated if their licenses or qualifications are found to fail requirements," the commission said.

District market watchdogs will beef up checks on free food packages being donated to subdistricts and deal with substandard products in a timely fashion, it said, adding that people and officials in dereliction of duty will face punishment, and as for cases of food safety, those responsible for misconduct will be handled by police.

On Monday, Zhangmiaojie subdistrict said in a notice that it had handled a case in which the person responsible for distributing 190 boxes of vegetables donated by Qujing city, Yunnan province, sold the supplies to another residential quarter in Shanghai. The person, surnamed Zhang, is now under police investigation, it said.

In a case involving a batch of pork with serious quality problems in Meilong township, police have taken criminal precautionary measures against the suspects, and prosecutors have participated to direct the investigation.

The city's commission for discipline inspection and the supervision commission said that they have noted the problems surrounding the free food supplies.

"As the city's fight against COVID-19 is still in a critical stage, the distribution of daily necessities and food supplies are fundamental to the success of control measures," they said in a notice published on Friday.