#China regulator says scandal-hit food supplier forged production dates- Xinhua

#GNN #Regulators in Shanghai have found that scandal-hit China-based food supplier forged production dates on some of its products and sold them after their expiry, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Shanghai Husi Food, which is owned by Illinois-based OSI Group, is at the centre of China's latest food scandal, which has spread to Hong Kong and Japan, over allegations it mixed expired meat with fresh meat.

Police have detained five people as part of their investigation.

Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration has found that Shanghai Husi forged the production dates on smoked beef patties produced in May 2013 and sold them as being made in January 2014, Xinhua said. The processed meat had a shelf life of nine months, it added.

Xinhua said there were 4,396 batches with forged dates, of which 3,030 had been sold.

Officials at Shanghai Husi and OSI in China could not be reached for comment. OSI has apologised to its Chinese consumers, calling what happened at the Shanghai plant "completely unacceptable".

The scandal, which has dragged in global food chains including McDonald's Corp, KFC-parent Yum Brands Inc and Starbucks Corp, was prompted by a local TV report on Sunday which showed staff at Shanghai Husi using long-expired meat and picking up food from the floor to add back to the mix. It also alleged the firm of forging production dates.

Reuters reported on Friday that Shanghai Husi won a court case earlier this year against a former quality control officer whose claims included that he was made to forge meat production dates.

The former worker told a court last year he was unwilling to illegally forge dates at the plant, adding that he repeatedly urged his employer to change a practice which he said violated food safety laws and hurt consumer interests, according to court documents seen by Reuters. He said Shanghai Husi ignored his pleas. The judge dismissed the allegation due to lack of evidence.

So far, there have been no reports of consumers falling sick in the latest food scare.

Food safety is one of the top issues for Chinese consumers after a scandal in 2008 where dairy products tainted with the industrial chemical melamine led to the deaths of six infants and made many thousands sick. (Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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#China's Guangdong province removes over 850 'naked #officials' from their posts

#GNN - More than 850 government workers in China's southern province of Guangdong have been forced out of their jobs as part of an anti-crackdown on officials whose spouses and children have emigrated abroad.

An investigation by the provincial government identified 2,190 "naked officials" and 866 of them have been removed from their posts, according to a report posted on the Guangdong government's official news portal on Friday and carried in local media on Saturday.

State media have reported that so-called naked officials will not be considered for promotion, as they are viewed as flight risks whose ability to escape overseas could make them more inclined to engage in acts of corruption.

Xinhua said naked officials were a serious problem in Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong. Guangdong province has traditionally seen high levels of emigration with communities of people originally from it scattered throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia and North America.

Many officials have been taking advantage of a Hong Kong investment scheme to squirrel away more than $1 million each, which includes buying "residency" in faraway African nations, as the scheme is not open to mainland Chinese residents.

President Xi Jinping last year launched a crackdown on pervasive corruption over concern about public resentment towards China's stability-obsessed ruling Communist Party. But the drive is also seen as a tool to remove Xi's opponents and replace them with his allies.

(Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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Super typhoon kills fourteen in southern China: Xinhua

(#GNN) - A super #typhoon has #killed at least #fourteen people in #China since making #landfall on Friday afternoon, state #media said on Saturday, after hitting parts of the #Philippines and leaving 77 dead.

Typhoon Rammasun reached the southern Chinese island province of Hainan on Friday, before striking parts of the mainland later on Friday and early on Saturday, said the official Xinhua news agency.

The government had ordered an all-out effort to prevent loss of life from the typhoon, which is shaping up to be the strongest to hit southern China in more than 40 years.

It is expected to bring heavy rain throughout the weekend before moving southwest and weakening on Monday. Heavy rain is also expected over part of northern Vietnam.

The typhoon has hit several cities in the Chinese provinces of Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, tearing down trees and power lines and knocking out power grids.

Rammasun has affected more than 1.3 million people, and caused economic damage worth more than 4.95 billion yuan ($797 million).

In the Philippines, Rammasun badly hit the coconut-growing southern portion of the main island of Luzon, including the central Bicol region, which remained without power four days after it struck.

The storm damaged an estimated 5.85 billion Philippine pesos ($134 million) worth of crops and infrastructure, including roads and bridges.

Typhoons are common at this time of year in the South China Sea, picking up strength from the warm waters and dissipating over land.

Flooding across a large swathe of southern China in the past week has already killed at least 34 people.

($1 = 6.2075 Chinese Yuan)

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by Robert Birsel and Rosalind Russell)

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China's Guangdong offers big rewards for terrorism informants

(GNN) - Police in China's southern Guangdong province are offering up to $80,000 for tips about terrorism suspects and potential attacks, state media said on Sunday, announcing some of the biggest rewards yet in a nationwide "anti-terror" campaign.

China launched the year-long crackdown in May after a series of attacks that authorities have blamed on separatists and Islamist militants from the westerly Xinjiang region, home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.

Under the Guangdong plan, informants' rewards will be based on the "value of the information in preventing terrorist attacks or catching suspects", the official Xinhua news agency said.

"Police will also offer rewards to those who provide tips on illegal activities related to preaching extremism and making videos or books that teach terrorist attacks," Xinhua said.

The Public Security Ministry said police who failed to protect informants and keep their identities confidential would face punishment.

Numerous regions and provinces around China have offered money for tip-offs in recent months.

In Xinjiang, where a suicide bombing killed 39 people at a market in the regional capital Urumqi in May, police have offered money for tips on everything from "violent terrorism training" to growing long beards, as authorities try to root out those they say are trying to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. [ID:nL3N0NH3YR]

Around 200 people have died in unrest in Xinjiang in the past year or so, the government says, including 13 people shot dead by police while attacking a police station in June.

In March, 29 people were stabbed to death at a train station in the southwestern city of Kunming.

Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists say repressive government policies in Xinjiang, including controls on Islam and on Uighur culture, have provoked unrest, a claim Beijing denies.

Xinjiang, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia, is crucial to meeting China's growing energy needs. Analysts say that most of the economic benefits have gone to the Han Chinese, the country's biggest ethnic group, and that this has stoked resentment among Uighurs.

(Reuters)(AIP)(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)