Xinyuan Zhai sour plum soup cyclamate exceeded the standard, the manufacturer responded: suspected counterfeiting

As a long-established brand in Beijing and a famous trademark in Beijing, Xinyuanzhai began in the fifth year of Qianlong (1740), and the most famous product was "osmanthus sour plum soup". The glass bottle packaging, which looks like a small grenade, has always been the signature of Xinyuanzhai. Recently, however, Shinto Sai has been in trouble. According to a new batch of food safety supervision and sampling information announcements issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision, a batch of osmanthus sour plum soup with the nominal "Xinyuan Zhai" brand was detected to exceed the cyclamate standard.

In this regard, Xinyuanzhai issued a statement yesterday in response: the packaging bottles and appearance labels used in the sample beverages are inconsistent, and the products sent for inspection "have not been proved to be produced by our company, and our company is investigating and verifying this matter."

Market sampling

Sour plum soup cyclamate exceeded the standard The re-examination still maintains the original conclusion

The Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau recently issued the "2020 Food Safety Supervision and Sampling Information" announcement, and when sampling 336 batches of samples of 6 types of food such as beverages, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables, 7 batches of unqualified samples were found.

Among them, the osmanthus sour plum soup beverage produced by the nominal Xinyuanzhai (Tianjin) Beverage Co., Ltd. and operated by Beijing Ya'er LiJi Nancheng Catering Co., Ltd. has a cyclamate detection value of 1.01k/kg, while the national standard value is ≤0.65 k/kg, which does not meet the national food safety standards. This batch of unqualified sour plum soup has a capacity of 300 ml per bottle and a production date of September 9, 2019.

Cyclamate is a commonly used sweetener that is 30 to 40 times sweeter than sucrose. According to the relevant national standards, the maximum use of cyclamate in beverages is 0.65 g/kg. If you regularly eat foods with excessive cyclamate content, it may cause harm to the liver and nervous system of the human body.

Xin Yuanzhai did not agree with this sampling result. Xinyuanzhai (Tianjin) Beverage Co., Ltd. subsequently objected to the test results and applied for re-inspection. After the re-inspection by the National Meat Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, the preliminary inspection conclusion is maintained.

Manufacturer response

Inconsistencies in packaging and exterior markings do not prove to be produced by us

On April 22, Xinyuanzhai released the "Statement on Issues Related to the Testing of Xinyuanzhai Osmanthus Sour Plum Soup Products" on its WeChat public account, responding to the detection of unqualified samples.

The statement proposed: Since the establishment of the factory, our company has strictly adhered to the product quality pass, established a sound product quality file and related management system, and recorded standardized and complete records in all aspects of production. The "Announcement" is the 20190909 batch of products, and our 20190909 batch of food additive sodium cyclohexylsulfonate (also known as cyclamate) has no abnormality in its use and use records.

The statement also proposed that the re-inspection is a re-inspection of the backup sample provided by the initial inspection agency, and it is not a sample provided by our company for testing. After investigation, the 2 bottles of backup sample beverages re-inspected were inconsistent with the packaging bottles and appearance labels used by our 20190909 batch of products.

In addition, Xinyuanzhai also took 20190909 batch of samples from 3 bottles and sent them to a third-party testing agency for testing. The test results show that the cyclamate content meets the requirements of the standard.

The statement pointed out that the products sent for inspection nominally in the Announcement "have not been proved to be produced by our company, and our company is investigating and verifying this matter".

In its statement, it stressed that Xinyuanzhai "insists on using the ancient method of boiling, and every spring will go to Sichuan, Hangzhou and other places to personally select raw materials such as wumei and sugar osmanthus flowers", "In the past thirty years, Xinyuanzhai osmanthus sour plum soup products have undergone countless inspections and quarantines, and there have never been problems related to product quality and food safety". Welcome everyone to send Xinyuanzhai products for inspection, but the first need to buy genuine products from regular channels such as supermarkets and shopping malls, and the second to identify the brand identity and outer packaging of Xinyuanzhai to avoid the situation of sending suspected counterfeit products for inspection.

Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Zhang Nan

Edited by Kuang Feng

Process Editor Liu Weili