Pagoda Caught in Food Safety Scandal Ahead of Hong Kong IPO

Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, May 9 (TMTPOST) — Chinese fruit retail chain Pagoda apologized on Saturday for its recent food safety scandal.

“We are sorry that we failed your trust. We feel very sorry and guilty,” the company said on its official Weibo page.

Earlier on May 6, video channel Neimu Lab exposed two Pagoda chain stores of misconduct involving food safety matters. The misconduct includes repackaging overnight fruits to deceive customers, fruit processing procedures that violate relevant rules and selling moldy fruits to customers. One store even sold fruits that had already been at the store for over a month. “Some other stores would even sell fruits that have been there for two or three months,” a worker at the store said in the video recorded by Neimu Lab.

Pagoda stated in the apology that the involved outlets are located in Chengdu and Wuhan. The company promised to make improvements in chain management.

The scandal comes at a time when Pagoda is preparing for its IPO in Hong Kong. The company filed for public listing with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on May 2. If listed successfully, Pagoda will become the first publicly listed company in China that focuses on fruit retail.

Established in 2001 in South China’s Shenzhen, Pagoda, or Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation Limited, is a large-scale chain enterprise integrating fruit procurement, planting support, post-harvest preservation, logistics storage, standard classification, marketing development, brand operation, store retail, information technology, financial capital, and scientific research and education. Statistics from consulting firm Frost & Sullivan show that Pagoda ranked first in retail sales in the fruit retail sector in 2021.

Many Chinese netizens have complained on the Internet that Pagoda sells fruits at high prices and that it should at least ensure food safety.

The company told The Time Weekly that it is conducting a thorough investigation into the food safety incident and will make further improvements.