Authorities have closed a noodle shop that was operating across from Nanshan Tongfuyu Industrial Park in Shenzhen after a newspaper ran an exposé showing how dirty the place was, and how much filth was finding its way into the bowls of noodles.
The undercover report revealed that the noodles were made in a cramped room filled with workers wearing neither gloves nor face masks. Fans constantly blew the workers’ sweat and their cigarette ashes all over the noodles, while the floor was covered in water and the walls were covered in mildew.
The owner and operator of the shop, Mr. Shi, defended his business, arguing he either met or exceeded the normal conditions of other Shenzhen noodle makers: “We change the water used to boil our noodles, but some [of the other producers] almost never change their water,” he said.
Shi accused other Shenzhen noodle makers of using preservatives, whereas his shop only used baking powder. Shi also said nobody in the business uses gloves or face masks.
Shi’s noodle workshop produced approximately 1,000 kilograms of noodles a day, supplying numerous breakfast stalls in the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park area.
For Shi, the closure may just be a temporary setback. According to the district’s market supervision authority, Shi is permitted to reopen if he addresses the health and safety issues exposed in the recent report.
