Podcast: Story in the Story (11/12/2018 Mon.)
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From the People’s Daily app.

This is Story in the Story.

Authorities have called for nationwide enforcement of food standards in schools amid an ongoing investigation into a Shanghai-based food supplier accused of serving low-quality lunches with expired ingredients at a private school in the city.

The Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration confirmed in a statement that students at the SMIC Private School in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park were served expired food, including rotten and moldy produce. Expiration dates on the packaging of some products had been altered.

The investigation confirmed what the students' parents reported during a surprise inspection of the school's kitchen.

The State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Education urged local education and food authorities to strengthen inspections of campus canteens to ensure their safety.

Today’s story in the story will look at what steps are being taken to address the problem.

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(Photo: Xinhua)

Parents raised concerns about Shanghai SMIC Private School after visiting their children at lunchtime and finding they had been given only two steamed buns and a small plate of cooked vegetables.

At a meeting with school leaders to discuss the issue two days later, some parents proposed a spot-check of the kitchens. They were shocked by what they found.

Pictures and videos shared widely online showed surfaces with rotten and moldy produce, including tomatoes and onions, and crockery and bottles piled up in baskets on the floor.

On closer inspection, parents also found that the expiration dates on the packaging for some products had been modified or covered up with new labels. The date on a bag of five-spice powder, for example, had been changed from November 2017 to May 2019.

Police officers visited the school in Pudong New Area over the weekend and confiscated food from the kitchen. Some 21 samples of raw ingredients and semi-finished products have been sent for testing to the food standards authority.

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(Photo: China News Service)

The school was ordered to end its relationship with Shanghai Eurest Food Technologies Services, the food supplier, and submit a new lunch plan for students. It must also strengthen its internal management of food safety, police said.

Eurest is a subsidiary of Compass Group UK, one of the largest catering providers in the world. It has supplied the private school for four years.

The company has promised to conduct a thorough inspection and reform its management system. It said it will conduct additional training on food safety for its employees, according to a statement published on its website.

Shanghai SMIC Private School was founded in 2001 by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, or SMIC. It serves more than 2,900 international students from 25 countries and regions from kindergarten to 12th grade. About 20 percent are the children of SMIC employees.

The school's website shows tuition fees range from 26,550 to 62,050 yuan ($3,830 to $8,940) per semester, not including lunch.

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Brian Lowe,  Lance Crayon, and Grace Xinyi Song. Music by: bensound.com. Text from Global Times and China Daily.)