Photo/Shetuwang

Oct. 22 (NBD) -- The Market Supervision Administration of Pudong New Area, Shanghai Municipality has ordered The SMIC Private School, Shanghai ("SMIC School") to stop sourcing food products from Shanghai Eurest Food Technologies Service Co., Ltd. ("Shanghai Eurest") and has also announced special inspections over all school canteens in the district, according to a statement released by the market watchdog on Saturday.

Expired food found at school canteen

The statement came after parents found expired food including moldy tomatoes and inedible onions in the kitchen of the SMIC School last Friday. According to one of the parents, after catering supplier Shanghai Eurest, which was later called to the scene, hesitated to respond to the problems discovered and "even wanted to destroy the expired food", parents took photos as evidence and called the police.

Upon receiving the report, the Market Supervision Administration of Pudong New Area, together with the education and other related departments in this district, immediately conducted a field investigation at the school last Friday night. Food with hidden safety risks then were sealed, and 21 samples were collected and sent for testing.

The supplier, Shanghai Eurest, is a wholly-owned unit of Compass Group PLC ("Compass"), a British multinational contract foodservice company. 

On Sunday, NBD visited the school and learned from an assistant to director of the SMIC School Board that the school had sent a response to the parents, adding that whether the canteen or Compass should bear the responsibility for the incident is up to the investigation results of the government. The person also said how the school will handle the incident is subject to internal discussions, and he was not at liberty to disclose the details. But the assistant further stated that the school was reporting to related government departments about the issue and would be socially responsible.

Catering services of Compass unit suspended 

Prior to the incident, many parents once reported their children had conditions like stomachache, vomiting and diarrhea, according to another parent.

The SMIC School has made a contingency plan, cutting food supplies from Shanghai Eurest and allowing students to take meals from home or parents to deliver meals to the school, added the parent.

It's noted that Shanghai Eurest is providing catering service for other international schools in Shanghai. The market supervision authorities in Shanghai are now conducting on-site inspections at and sending warnings to the schools that cooperate with Shanghai Eurest so as to prevent secondary incidents.

Shanghai Eurest on Monday released a statement on its website, saying that the company has suspended its catering services to the SMIC School as well as to other cooperating schools in Shanghai as per the request of the government, the school and the parents.

Founded in 2001 by Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation, the SMIC School currently has more than 2,900 students coming from 25 different countries and almost 400 staff members, with half of them from offshore, according to the school's website. 

Tuition fees of the SMIC School range from 26,500 yuan (3,827.5 U.S. dollars) to 48,000 yuan (6,932.8 U.S. dollars) for the Chinese Track and from 54,000 yuan (7,799.4 U.S. dollars) to 62,000 yuan (8,954.9 U.S. dollars) for the English Track per semester, not including meals. 

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn