▲ Controversy over Chinese cabbage pickled in formaldehyde
Three people involved in the controversial "formaldehyde cabbage" case in China have been apprehended by authorities and are under investigation.
According to Chinese media outlet The Paper and Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily today (the 30th), Chinese public security organs have placed three suspects in criminal detention over the formaldehyde cabbage incident in Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, and are conducting further investigations.
Previously, a stir was created in China after it was confirmed that some cabbage buyers dipped cabbages in a formaldehyde solution to maintain freshness for two to three days longer during long-distance transport.
Authorities launched an investigation into the facts after a Chinese blogger exposed the issue through a video on the 22nd.
The video captured traders lifting cabbages one by one before loading them onto trucks and dipping their roots into a basin containing a liquid presumed to be formaldehyde before taking them out.
As authorities set out to verify the specific distribution routes of the problematic cabbages, investigations showed that they were distributed to Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.
Sample tests conducted by local Chinese governments across various markets mostly did not detect formaldehyde residues.
However, it has not been confirmed whether the problematic cabbages and the tested samples were from the same batch.
As the fallout from the crisis grew, Chinese authorities instructed local governments to conduct special inspections on fresh agricultural products such as cabbages and strictly crack down on the illegal use of preservatives.
Formaldehyde is a pungent, colorless chemical substance, and its aqueous solution is commonly known as "formalin."
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an agency under the World Health Organization (WHO), classifies formaldehyde as a Group 1 carcinogen with sufficient evidence of causing cancer in humans.
China also strictly prohibits the production, sale, and use of formaldehyde as a food processing aid through laws such as the Food Safety Law and the Agricultural Product Quality Safety Law.
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