China Detains 3 Over 'Formaldehyde Cabbage' Scandal

Three people involved in the "formaldehyde cabbage" controversy in China have been apprehended by authorities and are currently under investigation.

According to Chinese media outlet The Paper and Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily on the 30th, Chinese public security organs have placed three suspects connected to the formaldehyde cabbage case in Kangbao County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, under criminal detention and are conducting further investigations.

Previously, a wave of backlash erupted after it was confirmed that some cabbage buyers in China had soaked cabbages in a formaldehyde solution to maintain their freshness for an extra two to three days 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 showed traders lifting cabbages one by one before loading them onto trucks and dipping their roots into a basin filled with 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 revealed that they had been distributed to Jiangsu and Anhui provinces.

Sample tests conducted by local governments across various markets in China mostly failed to 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 incident spreads, Chinese authorities have instructed local governments to conduct special inspections on fresh agricultural products such as cabbages and to strictly crack down on the illegal use of preservatives.

Formaldehyde is a colorless, pungent 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.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.