After formaldehyde-soaked cabbage, China finds color-dyed asparagus lettuce

Two weeks after formaldehyde-soaked cabbage was reported in Hebei, colored asparagus lettuce has been found in Yuzhong county, Lanzhou, in China’s Gansu province.

Chinese media began reporting the case after a blogger surnamed Zhang posted photos and videos of asparagus lettuce being treated with chemicals. Zhang said that, while surveying 13 vegetable warehouses, he found more than half using solutions of unclear composition to hide yellowing and external spoilage caused during harvesting and storage.

He sent samples from three warehouses for testing. Two contained bright blue and lemon-yellow colorants. Zhang said the substances were permitted for use in some food categories in China but not for treating fresh vegetables.

A local official told The Paper that the coloring took place during traders’ preliminary processing, rather than during cultivation by local farmers. Food-safety expert Liu Shaowei of the Shanghai Food Safety Research Association warned that excessive or prolonged consumption of vegetables treated with colorants could cause allergic reactions and might carry cancer risks.

On Sept. 5, Yuzhong’s agriculture and rural affairs bureau and market-regulation bureau inspected 53 purchasing businesses and vegetable warehouses. They found six companies using food-coloring additives illegally during procurement. Local authorities destroyed 11.8 tonnes of vegetables seized at the sites and opened cases against the six businesses. They also warned the remaining facilities and expanded checks to cultivation, purchasing, transport and sales across the county. The case has drawn comparisons with the recent formaldehyde-soaked cabbage incident in Hebei, which harmed farmers and local businesses and prompted tighter checks of Chinese cabbage and kimchi imports in South Korea and verification of related export routes by Japan.