The Paper's Secret Investigation Team Clip Wu Qi (01:16)
"Angel Orange", which once claimed to sell tens of millions of cups a month, had a market share of more than 90%, and was the first brand in the domestic freshly squeezed orange juice self-service sale, was constantly questioned due to health and safety issues.
In mid-to-late February 2022, the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) reporter tried to join the "Angel Orange" self-service vending terminal operation and maintenance post in Beijing and Shanghai, responsible for the cleaning of multiple directly operated points, orange replacement and other work.
"Angel Orange" self-service vending machines are generally placed in shopping malls, subways, hospitals and other places with larger flows, and complete oranges are stored in the chassis to squeeze orange juice for consumers to instantly. After many days of investigation, the reporter found that at the point of the secret visit, although it promised to be "freshly squeezed", each excess juice in the machine will be injected into the next cup and bought by the next consumer, and the orange juice reserved at the bottom of the cup may be placed in the machine overnight for dozens of hours, and the juice will also come into contact with the outside air when the operator opens the cleaning.
In addition, the quality of the oranges added to the self-service vending machine varies from batch to batch, and some of the peels are soft and black; in the vending machine, some of the core components remain yellow and black dirt, and the juice splashed on the juice hatch wall is black and green.
Located at the "Angel Orange" terminal in the subway station.
"Angel Orange" claims that the terminal adopts a "fully automatic, no dead angle" cleaning system, but in fact, some areas are regularly cleaned by hand, and there are irregularities in the operation process. For example, in a third-class hospital with a large flow of traffic in Shanghai, there is a situation such as mixed use of in-machine and off-machine rags.
When it comes to expansion, loopholes in the business model are also revealed. "Angel Orange" A merchant said bluntly that at present, in non-key cities (key cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, etc.), the procurement and operation and maintenance of oranges are actually solved by franchisees themselves, and there are no mandatory cleaning requirements and standards for oranges and supporting juice components, and the supervision is lax or loopholes.
Not every day to clean, but "some customers ask must say that every day washing"
After a round of online preliminary tests, in mid-to-late February, the surging news reporter came to a point in a large third-class hospital in Shanghai to accept a re-examination by Zhang Jie (pseudonym), the person in charge of operation and maintenance.
When the reporter came to the point, Zhang Jie was squatting on the ground with another newcomer who had just joined the job, busy dealing with a new batch of oranges. Surrounded by constantly passing patients and family members, unobstructed, unsealed cardboard boxes spread out on the ground. The oranges that are delivered are packed separately in unsealed transparent plastic bags, and the operation and maintenance personnel will generally remove the bags first and reload the fruits into cartons for storage.
Zhang Jie claims to have been working in the "Angel Orange" operator "Weiguo Tribe" for six or seven years, and is currently mainly responsible for new train and inspection of new people. She introduced that Shanghai is divided into two major regions, each of which is responsible for a manager and an operation and maintenance team leader. The backstage monitoring data she showed reporters showed that she was in charge of 327 machines, mainly in major hospitals, government agencies, subways and shopping malls.
Without asking to show a health certificate, After Zhang Jie informed the reporter of working hours and salary, she signaled to follow them to learn the operation and maintenance process on the same day, "No need to go to the company for training, follow me to learn for two or three days, I have brought a lot of people." ”
The official website of "Angel Orange" claims to be "daily cleaning", but Zhang Jie revealed that Shanghai's pointing machine is generally cleaned once every two days. If an operation and maintenance personnel is responsible for 10 machines, 5 machines are cleaned a day and the other 5 machines are replenished as appropriate. Some skilled workers will clean all the machines one day, and the next day they can simply patrol the field, "as long as the machine does not fail." ”
Zhang Jie said that in some government agencies where no one works on weekends, they can not clean up on weekends, nor do they need to add oranges. "But some customers ask, you must say that we clean every day." She told me again and again. When the reporter secretly visited Beijing's Haidian District, the operation and maintenance personnel even claimed to only clean twice a week.
Two old rags, a steel wire ball embedded with orange flesh, a recycled plastic straw, and a basin of tap water in the nearest bathroom are all the tools needed for cleaning and disinfection. Zhang Jie said that the orange machine is "very clean", as long as it is quickly rinsed with water, it does not need to be dried.
Unlock the first control disc and pull open the transparent mobile door for a sweeping view of the inside of the terminal. Add oranges first, then wash them. According to the cleaning process shown by Zhang Jie, the first step is to take out the paper cup on the turntable plate, place it on the side of the channel of the upper cup lid, and then start disassembling the parts.
In the process of explaining the process, the reporter found that nearly one-third of the orange juice in the paper cup prepared to receive the next cup of juice in the machine was actually available - which could not be seen from outside the machine. Zhang Jie said that the brand claims to be freshly extracted 5 oranges, but in fact only 3-4 are used, and the remaining juice after each juice is directly injected into the next cup.
However, the reporter saw from the official website that the "Angel Orange" terminal has greatly increased the "juice rate" of orange fruit through technical upgrades, with an average juice time of about 40 seconds, and each cup of orange juice is squeezed by 3-6 oranges.
Sister Zhang's entire demonstration lasted more than an hour, and the reporter took longer to operate alone. During this time, the orange juice reserved at the bottom of the cup is exposed to the outside world for a long time.
A male customer questioned the juice reserved at the bottom of the cup when watching the cleaning, and Zhang Jie only smiled and replied that "the setting of the machine", and the male customer was silent for half a moment and then asked Zhang Jie to replace the paper cup and buy it.
Reserve orange juice at the bottom of the cup.
Not all "freshly squeezed": it may contain juice left over from dozens of hours ago
The speed of consumption, which is related to the frequency of replenishment, means that the freshness of oranges and juices is closely related to the footfall at the point.
After a few days of trial work, the operation background opened the monitoring authority for the surging news reporter. Data show that in January, the four machines in the above hospital sold a total of 1089 cups, an average of 18.5 cups a day, with an average of 3.9 oranges per use. Wang Jie said that the sales volume here is at a medium level.
The reporter saw the sales of 4 terminals in the hospital in the monitoring background.
Some of the juices left in the cups in the machine may have been left in the machine for longer.
One Sunday in late February, this reporter went to a large shopping mall in Shanghai and practiced cleaning with another employee, Wang Mei (pseudonym), who was in charge of eight terminals on six floors, where sales were slightly worse.
Wang Mei showed reporters the background monitoring data shown that as of 2 p.m. on the same day, a total of 14 cups of orange juice were sold that day, and the most machine sold 4 cups. Not every machine, she said, sells well, "Yesterday I had a 'zero egg' machine and not a single glass of orange juice was sold." ”
Wang Mei generally alternately cleans the machine, and can complete the orange and cleaning process before noon. The reporter inquired that the mall's weekday business hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the weekend is extended by 30 minutes to close. According to her, conservative estimates are that from the time the mall closes on Friday, to the saturday when it is not sold, to the opening of the mall on Sunday, what she calls a "zero egg" machine will leave orange juice in the bottom of the cup for at least 36 hours.
Wang Mei took the reporter to a point where the location is relatively hidden, she said bluntly, on weekdays, few people pass by here, and only on weekends can they sell a few cups, so they generally rarely add oranges, "afraid of rotting inside." She took the reserved juice from the machine to the reporter to taste, and the taste was somewhat sticky.
During the reporter's entire undercover period, no operation and maintenance personnel were found to actively clear the residual liquid in the cup, and Zhang Jie only said that she should pay attention not to wet the cup when cleaning.
"Angel Orange" is actually the name of the terminal, its predecessor is "5 Oranges", operated by the Weiguo tribe, the investment company behind it is Shanghai Juang Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Juang"), which was founded in February 2013 and founded by Zhou Qi. After being ordered to rectify due to technical defects and other issues, since October 2014, Shanghai Juang has iterated the machines on the market from "5 oranges" to the third-generation machine "Angel Orange". According to the official website, the machine has added low temperature, surface ozone sterilization and other technologies.
Can the remaining juice be left in the machine for a long time to ensure safety and hygiene?
The reporter noticed at the point of the secret visit that there was an ozone generator on the outside of the machine, which showed that the ozone content was 0.5 g / h. But an expert in the disinfection industry told the surging news that in the actual process, it is difficult to maintain sterility by relying on ozone alone. For liquid substances such as fruit juice, it must be fully mixed and reach a certain dose and duration, "injecting ozone directly into the freshly squeezed juice", in order to really play a disinfection role. "If only ozone is added to the surface of the liquid, it will not have a bactericidal effect on the whole." According to Sister Wang, there is only a liquid level metal probe above the empty cup holder of the terminal. She stressed that she had to wipe it with a rag every time to prevent the measurement from malfunctioning.
The hygiene and safety of juice has always been a controversial issue in the self-service vending machines of freshly squeezed juices. As early as 2019, some media had randomly selected the freshly squeezed juice of the two brands of unmanned vending machines of "Mr. Orange Juice" and "Hengchun", and the results showed that the total number of colonies, mold, yeast count and coliform bacteria of the two orange juices were unqualified, and the maximum exceeded the standard by more than 30,000 times.
"Fresh oranges" with questionable hygienic quality, suspected rusty parts and mixed rags
The Angel Orange terminal has a total of 25 orange baskets, which can hold 225 oranges. Zhang Jie told reporters that machines with good sales are generally filled; machines with poor sales only need to "fill the more obvious positions." ”
Each Angel Orange terminal has one or two simple lockers for fresh oranges, sanitary ware, replacement components, etc. delivered by third-party logistics companies. Logistics companies generally distribute once a week to the main point, operation and maintenance personnel are allocated, and they can also add orders in the background according to sales.
The reporter noticed that the quality of the fresh oranges arrived was uneven, some oranges were large and full, and there were also many batches of oranges that were small, and the peel was soft and black. The pre-used oranges removed from the transparent packaging are stored in a cabinet in a non-low temperature environment, and after many days, the oranges are not as good as before, and there will be skin wrinkles, dry scars and so on.
The reporter noted that each box of oranges has a specification of about 56, Zhang Jie said that the cabinet generally reserves at least two boxes, that is, more than 112 oranges, each time to the machine to replenish, "first make up the remainder of the previous, and then make up the new arrival." ”
Wang Mei told reporters that those oranges with black skin and "not beautiful enough" could be thrown into the semi-closed long passage made of metal.
The reporter found a large amount of green and black juice residue in the core juice tank.
The reporter noted that although the delivered carton was pasted with the words "washed, can be eaten with confidence", there is no clear origin and cleaning manufacturer traceability information. After the process of unpacking, transit, storage and so on, the surface of fresh oranges is threatened by "secondary pollution". For example, when the reporter followed Zhang Jie to pull the dismantled fresh orange from the above hospital outpatient department to another emergency department point, he would stop by to take out the garbage. At this time, the fresh fruit is placed next to the garbage can.
Operators are taking out the garbage, fresh fruit and clean components are placed on one side.
According to the cleaning process taught by Zhang Jie, the simple locker on the side of the machine does not need to be cleaned and disinfected, but the reporter observed the locker at multiple points, and the bottom is full of fine dust. However, when scanning the QR code on the terminal, the system defaults to "Locker cleaned".
The new components, the washed core components of the juice, as well as small trailers, sanitary ware, etc. are placed in the cabinet together. The components are placed in plastic buckets with lids, but the airtightness is average.
The reporter opened a plastic bucket, which contained the components that had been replaced, emitting a putrid smell due to suffocation, and there were small cockroaches crawling out of it and quickly disappearing into the locker. Sister Wang said, "Cockroaches have something to fuss about, there is sweetness, this is not very normal." ”
When the reporter once supplemented the orange, he found that after taking the orange, the fingers were obviously black and dirty. Zhang Jie whispered to reporters, "Oranges used to be washed, but now the company does not wash anymore." When the reporter tried to ask questions, she warned in a slightly reproachful tone, "As far as you have many problems, don't drill the horns, don't care about what you shouldn't do." ”
According to the relevant technical drawings provided by "Angel Orange", the core juicing system adopts the pressing method of "whole fruit extraction" - by vertically closing the bowl with "upper and lower claws", the middle orange is pressed, and the extruded orange juice flows into the stainless steel juice storage bucket through the hole under the orange, and then the orange juice is injected into the paper cup through the diversion pipe and sold to consumers. During the dismantling and cleaning process, the reporter found that the finely crushed peel with the pulp would actually be squeezed into the juice storage bucket.
Every time the orange is replenished, the operation and maintenance personnel are asked to check the status of the orange and pick out the obvious moldy rotten fruit. The reporter found that some juice hatch walls and juice components remained a lot of pomace juice, some green and black. Zhang Jie said that this is "the residue after acidification, don't care." The reporter saw that some metal components in the core juice warehouse were suspected to have been corroded and oxidized.
Wang Mei believes that it is not excluded that "oranges have a place to rot and have not been singled out." She said she has also encountered a similar situation, "one look is moldy rotten crushed orange meat, in case people have diarrhea to complain about trouble." ”
The above-mentioned ozone disinfection industry experts pointed out that ozone does not work on pesticides, soil and other residues on the peel, and has a certain killing effect on microorganisms, but it cannot achieve 100% sterilization effect. "If residues from the peel or contact components are carried into the juice, it is difficult to discern with the naked eye alone."
O&M personnel mix and mix use of on-board and off-board wipes.
"Angel Orange" claims that the terminal adopts a "fully automatic, dead-end" cleaning system, but the area that actually relies on manual cleaning includes key parts that directly contact the juice or participate in the juice, such as liquid probes, detection photoelectrics, metal core panels, and the bottom space under the trash can, and the operating procedures of the operation and maintenance personnel are also irregular.
According to the steps taught by Sister Zhang, two wipes should be used separately when cleaning: one dry cloth is used to wipe the water splashed in front of the machine, and the other wet cloth is used to wipe the inside of the machine. However, the reporter observed for several days that employees, including Zhang Jie, often mixed and stacked two towels.
For example, at the hospital point of high-density flow, after Zhang Jie wiped the inside of the machine, she wiped the contact screen and fuselage on the outside of the machine, and then casually threw the rag on the floor towel and went to the next point to clean. These old rags are not additionally disinfected, and after washing on the same day, they are only washed and wrung out with clean water and then concentrated in a locker at a certain point, and used again for the next cleaning. At the point at the hospital, the garbage bags used in the machine are placed directly on the back of the machine.
Dirt inside some component seams.
A metal claw inside the terminal directly grabs the orange. Inside some terminals, such as metal parts that fix the claws, grooves in the middle of the claws, and other gaps or corners that are easy to be overlooked, thick dirt is attached, yellow-black. So-called "clean" components sent by third-party logistics companies sometimes leave residue or scale. Zhang Jie told reporters that if there is a problem with the replacement component, it is still the original, "just wash it with water." ”
All by self-awareness? The franchise model of non-key cities may have regulatory loopholes
According to data, as of October 2018, "Angel Orange" has arranged more than 8,000 terminals in more than 220 cities and jurisdictions across the country, with monthly sales of more than 10 million cups, a market share of 90%, and the number of terminals and orange juice sales in the national market ranks first.
The company's 2022 investment brochure obtained by the surging news shows that at present, there are two types of "channel mode" and "non-online" mode of cooperation of Angel Orange.
"Channel model" means that the partner is only responsible for solving the problem of the site where the machine is placed, and the rest of the machine operation and maintenance, orange materials and other matters are responsible for angel orange company, and the investment is written, and this model is now only open to Beijing and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In another "non-on-line" model, site leasing, machine operation and maintenance, material purchase, orange procurement, etc. are all responsible for by the customer. At the same time, the profits that customers can share are much higher than those of the channel model.
A business person in charge of the company's franchise business revealed that the angel oranges in many cities across the country currently use this "non-on-line" model, "Changchun, Harbin and whatnot, cities far from Beijing and Shanghai, most of them are this model, the company just goes to provide machines, provide after-sales technical services, and the rest are their own." The surging news interview found that angel orange head office for such franchise customers is not strict, or there are loopholes.
A "Angel Orange" and "non-on-line" model of the business contract obtained by the reporter stipulates that Party B (the franchisee) should purchase the oranges required by Party A ("Angel Orange" Head Office), and consumer complaints and claims due to the quality of the oranges purchased by Party B itself do not meet the requirements, which are handled by Party B and bear full responsibility, and Party B must ensure that Party A's reputation is not affected.
However, according to the above-mentioned business personnel, the orange procurement of "non-on-line" customers is completely responsible for the franchisee. He said that the head office has no requirements for the variety and origin of oranges, "mainly for the size, the diameter should be between 60 and 85 mm." He also mentioned that oranges in Beijing and Shanghai belong to the procurement of the head office, but there is no mandatory cleaning standard for oranges purchased by "non-on-line" customers. ”
The lockers are not disinfected and cleaned, but the QR code on the scanning terminal shows that it has been cleaned by default.
As for the core components of the washing, the above-mentioned business personnel said that at present, only a few directly operated cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou are handed over to a third-party logistics company for unified washing. "Non-on-line" cities rely on the operator to clean themselves, "a machine with two sets of juice knife heads, is to facilitate cleaning and replacement, to do this cleaning and disinfection work." ”
The surging news investigation found that after the operation and maintenance personnel in Beijing and Shanghai completed the machine cleaning process, they needed to take photos and upload, but the above-mentioned business personnel told the surging news that there is currently no such requirement for "non-on-line" customers, just need to get a form to record the cleaning time, and said that "the head office will go to the field for about half a year or a year to check it." ”
Food safety is still the sword of Damocles hanging high
In recent years, in addition to the problems of moldy rotten oranges and black slag in orange juice, etc. have been repeatedly exposed, in 2019, "Angel Orange" also fell into the "Rashomon" because of the problem of metal contamination determination - whether the components in food contact meet national food safety standards. After the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Department issued a million "fines", the "Angel Orange" withdrew from the local market and suspended business in Beijing for a while, triggering heated public opinion.
Some industry experts have pointed out that the most likely safety risk of unmanned automatic juicer lies in whether the oranges in the machine can be kept fresh and whether the machine is cleaned on time and standardly.
Yang Li, director of the Department of Nutrition of Pearl River Hospital of Southern Medical University, told the surging news that freshly squeezed orange juice has certain requirements for the quality of oranges, and attention should also be paid to washing and disinfection before juice. If the orange is unhygienic or spoiled, the extracted orange juice may be harmful to the human body. In addition, if the extracted orange juice is left naked for a long time, even in low temperature environments, there is a certain risk of microbial contamination, which is aggravated by poor hygiene in the machine. "Consumers drinking contaminated orange juice may cause bacteria and their toxins to enter the body from the gastrointestinal tract, causing infection."
Ma Jihua, founder and chief analyst of Beijing Darui Management Consulting Co., Ltd., said that unmanned self-service fresh juice is the product of the "new retail wave" around 2018, which can solve the convenience needs in some scenarios, but because this is a non-essential product, the repurchase rate is low, so the market size is bound to be limited. New retail companies that adopt "Internet thinking" generally emphasize centralized operations and pay more attention to user operations and the construction of back-end systems, so they lack strict and stable management processes.
The surging news learned that even in the direct operation points of key cities, angel orange operation and maintenance personnel sign almost all third-party labor contracts. During the online interview of the reporter, the personnel commissioner made it clear that the company does not pay social security and does not recruit locals. Some operation and maintenance personnel revealed that the turnover rate of the post is large.
Ma Jihua pointed out that "although the use of outsourcing and other methods saves costs, it is very likely to cause omissions in management, it is difficult to ensure long-term stable service quality, and similar lessons are learned in all walks of life." ”
He believes that companies must return to their original intentions, focus on making every cup of safe and reliable juice, and use practical actions to eliminate consumer concerns before expanding other business models, rather than using "routines" to try to accumulate word-of-mouth. ”
For the potential regulatory loopholes of the franchise model, Shen Haidong, a partner lawyer at Shanghai Zhengce Law Firm, pointed out the following three problems after reviewing the relevant business contracts provided by the reporter: First, the unmanned terminal that operates the production and sale of food requires a food business license, and the regulatory requirements for the food business license in various places are inconsistent, but the headquarters does not supervise whether the franchisee obtains the business license, resulting in some franchisees operating without a license, harming the rights and interests of consumers; Secondly, the headquarters has an "operation manual" for the operation and maintenance cleaning of the franchisee. Guidance, but no regulatory system, in fact, is to avoid the main responsibility, if the franchisee does not do in accordance with the "Operation Manual", the responsibility is borne by the franchisee; again, although the headquarters proposed the standard of fruit that should be purchased, but there is no corresponding regulatory measures, the same can not protect the rights and interests of consumers.
Shen Haidong said bluntly that in general, this contract is "to clear responsibility", the headquarters is only responsible for the delivery of terminals, for the various business links that should be there, there are only standards and requirements, lack of substantive supervision, "If something happens to the consumer, it is borne by the franchised customers, and it is difficult to hold the headquarters responsible." ”
It is worth noting that as of now, no general industry norms and corresponding supervision and management measures have been issued nationwide. In 2014, "Angel Orange" obtained The Food Business License of China's first unmanned drink for sale and sale issued by the Shanghai Municipal Food and Drug Administration. On April 22, 2019, the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission and the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau jointly issued the "Local Standards for Food Safety" Sanitary Code for The Vending (Manufacture and Sale) of Ready-to-Eat Foods, which set relevant standards for the vending of prepackaged ready-to-eat foods as a reference.
"Although it is a small cup of orange juice, it cannot be allowed to be 'barbaric' production, and we must really put food safety first." Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, pointed out that it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights and provide evidence for food safety problems that occur in ready-made and ready-to-sell vending products.
If consumers have symptoms such as drinking bad stomach, it is difficult to prove that their symptoms are necessarily related to the quality of the juice. "In reality, don't say that the quality of the juice is difficult to identify, consumers are to the hospital for treatment, the hospital generally will not issue a specific diagnosis certificate, so usually need to have multiple people with adverse symptoms or cause more serious symptoms, in order to attract the attention of merchants and relevant departments." Many times, as long as consumers do not have particularly serious symptoms, they generally consider themselves unlucky and give up their rights. ”
Chen Yinjiang called for improving and refining relevant food safety standards, further delineating food safety red lines for ready-to-eat food vending operators, and providing clear and specific regulatory bases for regulatory authorities. At the same time, the regulatory authorities should also increase supervision and punishment accordingly, and once it is found that there are violations of food safety regulations or damage to the rights and interests of consumers, they must be strictly investigated according to law.