Expired honey sales come to sticky end

A NUMBER of people including officials of Beijing Tongrentang, a renowned traditional Chinese medicine company, have been held accountable, and a subsidiary fined, for expired honey products.

Local media revealed last December that a honey producer of Tongrentang Bee Industry, located in east China’s Jiangsu Province, allegedly reused expired honey and changed production dates.

An investigation launched by the local market regulation administration in Jiangsu affirmed that those behaviors violated China’s laws and regulations on food security.

The food and drug administration of Daxing District in Beijing also found that more than 2,200 jars of the company’s products had entered the market since October last year.

Tongrentang Bee Industry has recalled those products and released detailed information about the products as well as compensation for customers.

More than 110,000 yuan (US$16,200) of illegal earnings and 3,300 jars have been confiscated. The food production license of the subsidiary has been revoked.

So far, 14 people including high-level officials of Tongrentang were found responsible. The subsidiary was fined 14 million yuan for breaching food safety regulations.

(Xinhua)