Excessive bacteria found in China Southern Airlines fudge
Staff Reporter 2013-10-18 15:59
A China Southern Airlines plane. (File photo/CNS)
The coconut chocolate fudge provided on China Southern Airlines flights has been found to contain excessive levels of coliform bacteria. The airline has tried to hush employees from exposing its connection with the plane food's manufacturer Guangzhou Southern Airlines Foods Holdings, according to state-run China News Service.
The dessert was found containing coliform bacteria levels exceeding national standards after the Guangzhou Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision carried out its ninth examination this year on 258 products made by 182 companies. The results were published on Tuesday.
The fudge was provided to the airlines by Guangzhou Southern Airlines Foods Holdings, which manufactures meals, desserts and moon cakes for airlines and supplies cabin service-related products such as laundry and equipment rental services, according to the Guangdong Administration for Industry and Commerce.
The airline is one of the food group's subsidiaries, of which the airline owns a 55% stake, according to information available on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The subsidiary's customer service center refused to confirm the firm's relation to the airlines when requested for comments. Guangzhou's 114 directory operators have been advised to "zip their mouths" on the matter.
This is the second recent fudge by a Chinese airline over food safety. On Oct. 8, an Air China flight flying from Xinjiang to Beijing offered expired shao bing, a type of flatbread, to passengers. One of them found the expiry date on the package had passed 4 days prior to the flight, but cabin crew ignored her request to collect the bread back from passengers. Over 30 passengers were sick with diarrhea and vomiting after the meal. A long queue of passengers lined up in front of the flight's restrooms.
The airline did not take the passengers to the hospital until 10pm later that day.
