Chinese authorities have arrested six people and launched disciplinary investigations into almost 30 others after more than 230 kindergarten children were poisoned by food coloured with industrial-grade lead paint The incident, which occurred in Gansu province earlier this month, is one of China’s worst school food safety incidents and has drawn national attention. An investigative report released by the Gansu provincial party committee on Sunday found a litany of failures in safety and oversight, as well as attempts to cover up the incident, bribe people in charge and modify test…
Tag: Food
Restaurant in China criticised for putting baby lion cuddles on menu
A restaurant in northern China has been criticised by animal welfare groups for offering an unusual item on the menu: lion cub cuddles. According to a screenshot of a menu circulating on social media, Wanhui – a restaurant in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province – has a four-course set afternoon menu costing 1,192 yuan ($166/£124) that includes playtime with the in-house animals. The restaurant’s profile on Dazhong Dianping, a popular restaurant listings app, shows pictures of the lion cubs alongside other animals, such as deer and alligators. The menu…
From peppercorns to plastic forks: US businesses that rely on Chinese products reel from Trump tariffs
Chang Chang, a Sichuan restaurant in Washington DC, was already noticing that some of its business had dropped off after tens of thousands of federal workers living in the area lost their jobs. But the recent tariff rate hikes mark an even greater blow for the restaurant. Sichuan peppercorns, which create the signature numbing spice of the regional Chinese cuisine, along with other ingredients, face an at least 145% tariff after last week’s tit-for-tat trade battle between China and the United States. The steep rate is an existential threat for…
The sweet story of how a chance meeting led to Australia’s ‘old baby cake’ going viral on Chinese social media
When Paul Adam sees a long queue forming in front of his patisserie in the northern suburbs of Sydney, “That’s when I know I’m going to start working hard,” he says. In the weeks since one of his cakes went viral across several Chinese social media platforms, that has been nearly every day. The gluten-free hazelnut, meringue and chocolate mousse cake, with lorikeets stencilled in icing sugar on top, is, by Adam’s estimation, “only a cake” but it seems to mean much more to the customers queuing for it, some…
McDonald’s hit by ‘technology outage’ in UK, Australia, Japan and China
McDonald’s restaurants in multiple countries including the UK and Australia have been hit by a “technology outage”, as the fast food chain denied it had been hit by a cybersecurity attack. Services in Australia, the UK, Japan and China have been affected, with unconfirmed reports of problems elsewhere, with restaurant, drive-through and online orders affected. A global spokesperson for McDonald’s said the company was working to resolve the unspecified problem. “We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants; the issue is now being resolved. We thank customers…
Low Prices Lure Hong Kongers to China
Shuen Chun-wa, 81, and her husband hurried toward a green bus with two dozen other Hong Kong residents, dragging empty suitcases. They had purple tour stickers on their jackets and were headed to shop in Shenzhen, a bustling Chinese city that sits on the northern side of the border with Hong Kong. It was Ms. Shuen’s second trip to Shenzhen to find bargains in a year. Last time, she got dental implants. “You can count how much I need to pay,” she said. She paid $9,000 in Shenzhen for a…
From beehive to kitchen table: UK beekeepers call for new law to trace honey’s origin
Britain’s beekeepers are backing proposed new rules to combat fraud in the supply chain, ensuring a jar of honey can be traced on its journey of up to 5,000 miles from the beehive to the shop shelf. The European parliament has agreed new labelling rules and a project to establish a traceability system for honey from harvesting to the consumer. The proposed rules are part of an overhaul of the “breakfast directives”, including the honey directive. Honey producers and sellers in the UK want the rules to be adopted in…
China overtakes US as branded coffee shop capital of the world
The branded coffee chain craze may trace its roots to a single Starbucks in Seattle’s Pike Place market in 1971, but now China has toppled the US as the country with the most branded coffee shops. The number of branded coffee shops in China increased by 58% over the past 12 months to a record 49,691 outlets, according to research by World Coffee Portal. That was more than 9,000 in excess of the 40,062 in the US, where the market grew by just 4%. The US had held the crown…
12 African Artists Leading a Culture Renaissance Around the World
In one of his famed self-portraits, Omar Victor Diop, a Senegalese photographer and artist, wears a three-piece suit and an extravagant paisley bow tie, preparing to blow a yellow, plastic whistle. The elaborately staged photograph evokes the memory of Frederick Douglass, the one-time fugitive slave who in the 19th century rose to become a leading abolitionist, activist, writer and orator, as well as the first African American to be nominated for vice president of the United States. Diop is no stranger to portraying the aches and hopes of Black people…
Weekend podcast: Grace Dent on the love of cheese, Marina Hyde on dull spy ‘scandals’, and a male escort on what women want
Marina Hyde ponders a government so tedious, even the ‘shocking’ revelation of an alleged spy can’t sex things up (1m20s); Grace Dent delves into ‘the great social leveller’, cheese, and what our love for this foodstuff says about us (8m8s); and a male escort reveals what women want when they pay for sex (34m56s). How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian