Officials ordered some Shanghai neighborhoods to throw away food they received from the government after complaints about quality issues, adding to frustration among residents locked in their homes for weeks as the city struggles to tame the country’s worst COVID-19 outbreak.
At least two districts in Shanghai’s east warned residents about problems with moldy braised duck and meatballs or issues with the packaging of food that had been distributed by the government to compounds still in lockdown, official notices seen by Bloomberg News showed.
Some residents complained on social media about stomachaches and diarrhea after eating food they had received on Wednesday. It was one of the top topics on China’s Internet yesterday, with the hashtag of netizens calling for a probe garnering more than 100 million views on Sina Weibo.
Photo: Bloomberg
Authorities have said they would investigate the issue.
Shanghai’s response to a record COVID-19 outbreak has been to impose an unprecedented lockdown that has brought a hefty social and economic toll to the financial hub. It has also spiraled into a logistical nightmare as the city’s 25 million residents — sealed off in their homes for several weeks — struggled to order basic groceries and government packages were not reliably delivered.
The simmering anger has also led to some of the strongest anti-government criticism in years from a public growing weary of harsh virus measures.
On WeChat, posts about moldy marinated duck from a manufacturer whose license has expired, and cooking oil and meatballs made by little-known producers, have circulated since Wednesday.
Pudong District, in Shanghai’s east and covering its financial district and industrial parks, has opened a probe into problems with government-distributed food packages. In the southwestern district of Minhang, two local government officials were fired earlier this week over sub-quality pork delivered to communities.
A retailer responsible for providing food to a western area yesterday issued a letter apologizing for the quality of rice noodles it distributed for the government.
“The market regulator will investigate and punish this kind of violation strictly and fast,” Tao Ailian, an official at Shanghai’s market regulator, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The regulator has issued guidance for procuring and distributing the fresh food packages, requiring organizers and producers to ensure food safety.
The fresh gripes over food supply come as the daily case tally moderates, but deaths increase. Infections have fallen for four consecutive days to 18,495 yesterday.
Another eight people died, bringing fatalities in the current wave to 25. The number of patients in severe or critical condition tripled to 159.
While Shanghai has made tentative moves to ease restrictions in some sectors, including allowing some factories to restart operations, there is no indication of when the lockdown would be fully lifted.
About two-thirds of the city’s population remain under a lockdown that initially started in the city’s east late last month.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in