The Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court reported on Tuesday (Sept. 17) that 40 people had been jailed in the city for food safety violations in the past 3 years, according to Nanfang Daily. Six of those convicted have been sentenced to more than 10 years as the city tries to reduce the number of food safety violations, one of the most controversial issues of recent times.

Since 2011, 91 people have been tried in 31 different trials. Twenty-two of the cases involved the selling or production of substandard food products, the rest involved the production or sale of dangerous or harmful food.

Most of the cases involved criminal gangs who systematically broke the law for a period of months or even years.

One of the most revolting food safety scandals of recent times in Dongguan was that of the merchant who processed bamboo shoots in the toilet.