China: Wal-Mart to triple spending on food safety

The US retailer Wal-Mart has vowed to triple spending on food safety measures in China in a bid to avert further recalls and mislabelling of products.

The move comes after this year’s discovery of fox meat found in packages labelled as “Five Spice” donkey meat.

The company said it would increase checks on vendors to ensure DNA testing was being implemented and all necessary permits were in place. The mislabelled donkey meat in question had come from a local supplier.

Spending on food safety will be increased to $48.2 million, three times more than the $16 million the company had previously committed to, with the majority of money spent on additional food testing and supplier audits.

The donkey meat scandal came on the back of other similar problems including the mislabelling of regular pork as organic in 2011 and the discovery of hazardous chemicals in sesame oil and squid in 2012.

“We see this as our future home market,” Wal-Mart’s China Chief Compliance Officer Paul Gallemore said. The company plans to open 110 more stores by 2016 in China where it currently operates around 400 outlets.

Source: Washington Post