Wal-Mart has reported in a statement that the store will be offering compensation to its customers. According to Bloomberg News, the world’s largest retailer said it will be adding DNA testing to the meat it sells in China after a recall from suppliers that revealed donkey meat. According to the LA Times, a few months ago, rat meat was passed off as strips of lamb in China.
The products from vendor Dezhou Fujude Food Company Ltd., which contained the donkey meat identified in the samples, were withdrawn by Walmart. According to the statement, Walmart is considering legal action against the food vendor. Wal-Mart’s China chief, Greg Foran, said he was shocked by the incident.
Police arrested Wal-Mart workers in 2011 in Chongqing after allegations the retailer mislabeled ordinary pork as organic. The employees involved in the incident were later fired and additionally, the store was fined.
The country has demanded that local authorities tighten scrutiny of the production and sale of meat products. The probe into the industry began when Shanghai police uncovered a group selling fox and mink meat as mutton. China has been racked by tainted-food scandals in recent years. Consumers have been wary of the quality of meat products after a scandal last year revealed many products labeled as beef contained horse meat.
Other companies have also been affected by food contamination incidents and China’s government has vowed to crack down on food safety issues and violations.
Consumer trust in the Chinese food industry remains shaky even years after a 2008 scandal in which six babies died and 300,000 others were poisoned by drinking milk tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, a chemical used to mimic the properties of protein in milk.
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