Walmart China has announced new measures to address food safety issues after recent allegations its stores were selling expired meat and pre-used oil.
A new delivery system will bring fresh produce to Walmart’s 11 fresh produce distribution centres, serving all 400 of its stores across China. The new delivery network is due to be operating by the end of 2014, with third-party organisations being introduced t supervise food handling and cooking, according to China Daily.
“We will expand the fresh delivery network along with developing more stores in the years ahead to ensure food delivered to every store is fresh and safe,” Paul Gallemore, chief compliance officer for Walmart China told the local news site.
The move follows an announcement in June that Walmart would invest Rmb300m (US$48.86m) in food safety at its China stores from 2013-2015.
A string of food safety allegations have plagued Walmart China, the most recent a video released by workers at its Shenzhen stores accusing Walmart of reusing cooking oil and selling expired meat as well as worm-infested rice.
Four employees of the Shenzhen store were fired a month after the allegations came to light, but Walmart denies this had anything to do with the claims.
Food safety still ranks as one of the highest concerns for Chinese consumers, and Walmart China’s senior vice president of corporate affairs and sustainability, Ray Bracy, told China Daily that better regulation and cooperation between government and suppliers was needed.
“In such a laxly regulated environment, it is not realistic to solve the problem of food safety within a short period of time,” said Bracy. “We need to cooperate more with the government and our suppliers to tackle the problem more efficiently.”
