China Investigates Three People Over 'Formaldehyde Cabbage' Case

[Financial News]  In China, a group that soaked cabbage in a formaldehyde solution, a Group 1 carcinogen, to keep it fresh has been caught by police.
According to Greater China media outlets including The Paper and Sing Tao Daily on the 30th, public security authorities in China have placed three key suspects in the 'formaldehyde cabbage' case in Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, under criminal detention and are continuing their investigation.
The case came to light on the 22nd after a Chinese blogger released an exposé video. The footage showed cabbage buyers repeatedly dipping the roots of cabbage into basins of a suspected formaldehyde-like liquid before loading them onto trucks, apparently to extend freshness by two to three days.
Authorities traced the distribution route and found that the cabbage in question had been supplied to areas in Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province. Market sample tests conducted by local governments mostly found no residue, but it has not been clearly confirmed whether the samples tested were from the same batch as the contaminated cabbage, leaving consumers uneasy.
As the backlash intensified, Chinese authorities ordered local governments nationwide to carry out special inspections of fresh agricultural products and said they would crack down hard on the illegal use of preservatives.
Meanwhile, formaldehyde, widely known in solution form as formalin, is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization (WHO). China also strictly prohibits its use in food processing and preservation under the Food Safety Law and the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Law.


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