China food scandals: factories use smelly insoles, chemically bleached chicken feet to make snacks

2026.03.22 01:20 A factory in China has been exposed for soaking chicken feet in hydrogen peroxide to create spicy snacks amid previous food safety scandals that included using smelly insoles in crispy rice production. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/CCTV A food factory in China has been exposed for making popular chicken feet snacks using chemicals in unhygienic conditions. The factory soaked the chicken in harmful hydrogen peroxide, sparking public outrage and thrusting the country’s food safety record back under the spotlight. In the annual Consumers’ Right Day Show broadcast by state media CCTV on March 15, the Mingyang Food Company in Chengdu, in southwestern Sichuan province, was revealed to have serious food safety problems. According to an undercover report by the media outlet, the workshop smelled, had sewage deposits on its floor and the production equipment was covered with greasy dirt. An undercover investigation discovered piles of bleached chicken feet, above, on the factory floor. Photo: CCTV Raw chicken feet were piled on the wet, dirty ground next to cleaning tools. Before the chicken feet were processed, they were decolourised in the hydrogen peroxide liquid. The chemical is normally used for disinfection. China bans its use in food production because not only will it damage the nutritional value of the food, it will cause health damage to those who consume it over a long period. Workers at the factory admitted they had never eaten the chicken feet they produced and suggested the reporter not eat it too. A filthy kitchen in a restaurant in China. The exposé has put food safety conditions back on the national agenda. Photo: Shutterstock After the scandal was exposed, Sichuan Provincial Market Supervision Bureau launched an investigation into the Mingyang Food Company, as well as a wider food safety overhaul. The incident came in the wake of a statement from the market authority in Xuancheng, central Anhui province, on March 15, which said it is i

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