Recently, Procter & Gamble, a well-known daily chemical giant in mainland China, suffered Waterloo and was exposed to serious quality problems in many of its well-known laundry detergent products, and urgently ordered a global recall of 8.2 million bags of problematic products! The impact of this incident is wide-ranging, and the social repercussions caused by it are so intense that it is definitely the most noteworthy "laundry detergent door" incident in recent years!
Let's first review the cause of the incident: It is reported that Procter & Gamble recalled 8.2 million bags of laundry detergent products in the North American market, with production dates concentrated from September 2023 to February 2024, involving brands including Tide, Gain Ace, and Ariel and other well-known brands. The reason for the recall is that there were 4 cases of children who became unwell after being exposed to these laundry detergents, and 3 of them were directly ill.
In the face of such a major quality hazard, Procter & Gamble explained that due to defects in the outer packaging design, the packaging bag may crack at the zipper, and the detergent substance will volatilize with the air, thereby endangering children's health. Once a child is exposed to it for a long time, it is very likely to trigger serious consequences such as seizures, coma, breathing disorders, eye damage and burns!
However, things are far from that simple. Procter & Gamble's explanation is too far-fetched and self-justifying! Let's think about it in the context of daily life:
As a detergent that comes into direct contact with clothing, it is natural that some of the ingredients remain during the washing process. So, when these residues encounter the air, they will also produce a chemical reaction to release harmful substances, won't it have an impact on human health? What's more, many families have young children, and it is easy for them to taste everything in the surrounding environment, and their clothes naturally cannot escape the fate of being bitten.
Could it be that Procter & Gamble wants to quibble and say that children who are poisoned after licking their clothes are only to blame for the cracking of the packaging bags?
Admittedly, packaging defects were indeed a cause of the quality issue, but apparently not the root cause. People who are familiar with the daily chemical industry know that in addition to packaging factors, product formulation, raw material procurement, production process and other links may also bring quality hazards. It is clear that P&G has consciously or unconsciously avoided these potentially fatal risk points.
This just confirms a worrying fact: in order to chase higher profits, many capitalized multinational companies have seriously insufficient product quality control, but they have turned a blind eye to the safety of people's lives!
Back then, when Procter & Gamble entered the Chinese market, it was under the brand banner of "environmental protection" and "health", and it took several hard work to establish a positive image in the hearts of the Chinese people. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the ugly face of "power and money for life" behind the scenes will be fully revealed.
There is no doubt that Procter & Gamble, the "old fox," is entirely to blame for his own sins and cannot live! However, as long as there is a trace of responsibility and conscience towards consumers, he will never take risks and encourage commercial fraud.
However, it is not alone in creating such quality defects. In recent years, many well-known food companies such as Elephant Energy Bar, Tim Coffee, and ALDI Meatballs have also been involved in quality accidents such as metal foreign bodies in packaging bags and deterioration of raw materials. And every time it was exposed, the reaction of the companies involved was basically the same - nothing more than blaming the pot on the packer or supplier, trying to cover up the fact that there were serious loopholes in product quality control.
Obviously, "packaging went wrong" is just a pretext for their cunning rabbit holes. In those years, it was these companies that allowed the quality of their products to decline, but tried to use the so-called "investigation and recall" to fool the customs and calm the people, so that food safety faced increasing risks. Such a perfunctory posture is also the best footnote to their inability to show sincerity.
Behind the indiscriminate "shield" of packaging bags, what is more worthy of our vigilance is precisely the pursuit of capital without a bottom line for profits. Lack of scientific management, loss of environmental protection concept, abandonment of management spirit, blind "brute force" and extensive management, resulting in the emergence of quality hazards.
How can there be a body in the world that is incomplete and wasted! Food and drug safety has a bearing on thousands of households and the safety of the people's lives, and there is absolutely no room for the slightest ambiguity.
In the past, we thought that the quality awareness of foreign companies was indeed better than that of domestic counterparts, so we did not hesitate to defend multinational brands such as Procter & Gamble. As everyone knows, once commercial interests take precedence over people's health, even developed countries that claim to be "customer first" may also do all kinds of evil!
The Procter & Gamble laundry detergent incident is once again sounding the alarm bell for each of us: the good and bad of daily brands, rather than despising the level of vision, it is better to pay attention to and cherish every "cleaning supplies" around us.
More importantly, government regulatory departments and relevant associations should increase accountability, and work hard to rectify the chaos in the industry, and never be soft. Only by forming an all-round, multi-level and strict quality control system can we stop the spread of shady drugs in the market and let the company's products achieve the excellent quality of "zero defects"!
Those "wolves" who have degenerated into the cloak of "Prince Charming" will be ruthlessly attacked and eliminated. We also have the responsibility to abandon the blind obedience to big brands, get rid of the paranoia of "foreign plots", and think more rationally and independently, which is not only related to personal interests, but also a kind of care for the development of the entire industry.