Four Farine employees have been arrested by Minhang district prosecutors following the popular French bakery's flour scandal.
The four include production director and French citizen Laurent Daniel Fortin, and three Chinese nationals: Xin Xiangrong, Hu Jun and Lu Jiajian.
They are accused of using expired factory at the company's Minhang factory, which was used in breads supplied to the bakery's outlets at Wukang Lu, IFC Mall, Hubin Dao and Huashan Lu between December 2016 and March 2017.
The scandal first unfolded in March after 'whistle blowing' allegations were published on Weibo by an individual claiming to be an ex-employee of Farine, who mentioned founder Franck Pécol by name.
An accompanying video appeared to show product labels with an expiry date of December 2016. The video also showed what appeared to be mold-infested flour baskets near the front of the store, though it is unclear whether these were for use in the bakery. Further allegations made by the user included baked products being stored on mold-covered cloths, staff seiving out mold from raw flour and claims of live rats in the store.
The 30-year-old employee allegedly began working for Farine in October 2016 and recorded his findings over several weeks. He turned the footage into authorities on March 20, the same day the city introduced some of its most stringent food regulations.
Shortly after the scandal unfolded, eight people were detained in police custody following an investigation into the company's warehouses and stores.
Farine later released a statement admitting the flour they used was out of date.
All Farine branches were closed following the investigation, and their listings removed from local listing site Dianping.
The rest of the Franck empire — including Pécol's namesake restaurant Franck Bistrot, Grains (which also houses WIYF), Rachel's and Far-West — soon followed.
Meanwhile, Pécol remains in France.
Shanghai's Food and Drug Administration has increased the reward for 'whistle blowers' tipping authorities off to food safety incidents to a lucrative RMB300,000.
Follow the latest updates on this story here.
[Top image via Shanghai Daily]
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