The man's claim against the seller for food packaging labels containing "sodium nitrite" was rejected in the first instance

Xin'an Evening News Anhui Network Dawan News After a man Cui Moumou of Vortex bought a meat preserved meat from Taobao, he found that the food contained "sodium nitrite" on the outer packaging label, so he reported the store and sued the court to demand "one refund and ten compensation". However, the store believes that after testing, the food it sells does not contain "sodium nitrite", the food additive label on the outer packaging is a printing error, and proposes that Cui Moumou is a profit-making "professional counterfeiter". On April 13, the reporter saw from the Chinese judgment document network that a few days ago, the Woyang County Court had pronounced a first-instance judgment on the case, and Cui Moumou was dismissed because he could not produce evidence.

Men buy preserved meat online and find that the outer packaging contains "sodium nitrite"

Cui Moumou, a native of Woyang, Anhui Province, purchased 70 packages of charcoal-grilled juicy meat from the Tmall flagship store of a seller in Wuhan on Taobao on August 11, 2020, with a unit price of 24.50 yuan, a total of 1695 yuan.

A few days later, on August 18, Cui Moumou placed another order and purchased 100 packages of charcoal-grilled juicy meat from the store, with a unit price of 23.50 yuan for a total of 2330 yuan. The defendant sent the above-mentioned food to Cui Moumou by courier, and he received them.

Cui Moumou complained that after receiving the goods for the second time, he found that his stomach was uncomfortable after eating, and he carefully looked at the packaging and found that the meat contained "sodium nitrite", which was illegally added beyond the range, resulting in food not meeting food safety standards.

On August 30, 2020, Cui moumou complained to the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Dongxihu District of Wuhan City, Hubei Province through the online 12315 platform, reflecting that the food charcoal-grilled juicy meat ingredients produced by the defendant contained sodium nitrite, a food additive. On September 7, 2020, the bureau informed Cui through the national 12315 platform that his complaint met the conditions for acceptance and decided to accept, and on February 26, 2021, the bureau launched a reward procedure for Cui to reflect that the defendant's production of "pork breast" was suspected of violating the law, sodium nitrite.

If the evidence could not be adduced, the court rejected the appeal at first instance

During the trial, the seller argued that the goods he sold met the food safety and health standards, and after the Wuhan Dongxihu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau entrusted a third-party agency to conduct sampling tests, it had been determined that the goods involved in the case did not contain sodium nitrite (nitrite) and did not endanger personal safety. The additive sodium nitrite printed on the outer packaging of the goods involved in the case is a label printing error of the food additive, which is a label defect, but the defect does not affect food safety and will not induce or mislead consumers. Cui's claim for ten times punitive damages has no factual and legal basis.

The seller also proposed that Cui Moumou was a "professional counterfeiter" and had been aiming for profit all year round.

The court held that: Cui XX sued the defendant to demand that the defendant refund the purchase price and compensate 10 times the purchase price, but Cui XX failed to provide evidence to prove that Cui XX had symptoms of physical discomfort after eating the defendant's food charcoal-burned juicy meat, nor did he provide evidence to prove that the quality of the food was an unqualified product, and Cui XX could not produce evidence, and should bear the legal consequences of failing to adduce evidence, and cui XX's litigation claim was not supported. Cui's litigation claim was dismissed.

Chu Wenjing Xin'an Evening News Anhui Network Dawan News reporter Zhu Qingling

Edited by Xu Dapeng