[Sportschosun Reporter Jang Jong-ho] A worker at a well-known fresh food supermarket chain in China has sparked outrage after being caught standing on a food-cooking griddle while wearing shoes. According to Chinese media outlets including Xinmin Evening News, a consumer recently posted photos on a social networking service showing the employee working on the griddle and metal shelves at an instant-cooking section while wearing dress shoes.
The consumer who took the photos immediately raised hygiene concerns with a store employee, but the worker reportedly responded by saying the issue would not have a major impact on food safety.
The consumer later complained to headquarters and said the company replied that it would retrain the employee and replace both the cooking griddle and the shelves.
The store later contacted the consumer again and said the employee had been fired. It also explained that although food safety training had been provided when the worker joined the company, the incident was caused by the employee's personal misconduct.
The consumer wrote on the social networking service, "It was around 9 p.m. at the time, and the store was crowded with customers," adding, "There were several employees around the barbecue section, which was not captured in the photo, but no one seemed to find the behavior strange. It looked like something they were too used to."
As the controversy grew, the headquarters customer service center issued an official statement saying, "We immediately launched a special investigation into the store after confirming that an employee had violated hygiene rules." It added, "We determined that this was a serious breach of the company's food safety principles and took strict action against the employee involved."
It continued, "We immediately suspended operations at the instant-cooking section, carried out a full disinfection, and replaced all cooking griddles and oven equipment with new ones." It added, "We will strengthen internal inspections and employee training across all stores to prevent a recurrence of the same problem."
Reporter Jang Jong-ho bellho@sportschosun.com
