On-site investigation of enterprises involved in "bleached chicken feet" scandal! Two companies inspected overnight! Regulatory departments lit up at 3 AM

It is said that some people are eating boneless spicy pickled chicken feet while watching CCTV’s “3.15” Gala. At this moment, do these friends feel chilled to the bone?

Unfortunately, the popular spicy chicken feet that are fresh and spicy have been prominently featured in this year’s CCTV “3.15” Gala. Sichuan Shufu Xiang Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Shufu Xiang Food”) and its processing service factory Mingyang Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Mingyang Food”) are the first to be exposed, involving illegal use of hydrogen peroxide for bleaching chicken feet and extremely poor production conditions…

On the night of March 15, a reporter from Securities Times immediately went to Qujing City, Chengdu, where Shufu Xiang Food is located. The two involved companies had already been investigated and shut down by market supervision authorities overnight. It is worth noting that several years ago, Shufu Xiang was still a liquor company.

Companies Investigated Overnight

When the Securities Times reporter arrived at Shufu Xiang Food’s factory, a very ironic scene appeared: the facade of the factory prominently displayed the words “Quality determines survival, quality determines income, quality determines happiness” in large characters.

At 24:00 on March 15, the gates of Shufu Xiang Food were closed, but some floors of the office area were brightly lit. Vehicles from government departments and market regulation enforcement were parked downstairs; at 1:45 on March 16, the last government vehicle left the factory area, and the lights in Shufu Xiang Food’s office building finally went out one by one.

Subsequently, the reporter also visited Jin’e Village, Linqiong Town, Qionglai City, about 6 kilometers away, where Mingyang Food is located. This company is the site of preliminary processing for Shufu Xiang Food’s chicken feet products.

At the entrance of Mingyang Food, government and market regulation enforcement vehicles were also parked. The reporter learned from on-site staff that enforcement officers are currently inside the company, but the specific situation is not known. Through the iron gate, the reporter could clearly see personnel shuttling back and forth in the factory. When leaving around 2:30 a.m., enforcement officers from market regulation and other departments had not yet left Mingyang Food.

Around 3 a.m., the reporter arrived at the Quinglai City Market Supervision Administration, where it was still a sleepless night, with six offices brightly lit.

Once upon a time, before the “3.15” Gala, Shufu Xiang was a representative local enterprise in Quinglai City’s green food industry. The official website of Quinglai City government mentioned that the green and healthy industry was developing simultaneously, with Chengdu Green and Healthy Industry Park forming a beverage industry represented by Yili and Danone, a livestock processing industry represented by Jizhong and Chunyuan, a leisure food industry represented by Wezhidu and Shufu Xiang, a traditional Chinese medicine preparation industry represented by Tianyin Pharmaceutical, a medical device industry represented by WeGao and JinGu, and a pharmaceutical industry represented by Tiantai Mountain Pharmaceutical and Oukang Medical, forming a diversified and coordinated development pattern.

Ordered to cease production and business

In the Sichuan-Chongqing area, boneless spicy pickled chicken feet are highly popular. These chicken feet are white and plump, making people crave them just by looking at them. Whether online or in offline supermarkets, they are best-selling items.

But behind the glossy whiteness lies serious food safety issues. According to the “3.15” Gala report, in Chengdu Mingyang Food’s production workshop, where chicken feet are preliminarily processed, people can easily enter without health certificates, health checks, or sanitation procedures.

Inside the food processing workshop, foul odors from the pickling, trimming, and selection areas fill the air, with a nauseating fishy smell. The environment is filthy and chaotic; the floor is long covered with turbid wastewater, plastic baskets are piled haphazardly, and surfaces of machinery are covered with thick stains and grease. In this workshop, large quantities of chicken feet are directly piled on damp, dirty floors; cleaning tools like brooms and shovels are casually placed on the chicken feet. Even if the chicken feet are stepped on, workers just pick them up and put them back into the processing baskets, completely ignoring food hygiene and safety.

How can such a dirty environment produce clean-looking, tempting chicken feet? As CCTV’s investigation deepened, a key piece of information was revealed—because the factory performs a critical “bleaching” process. Its staff admitted, “It is bleached with hydrogen peroxide.”

On the evening of March 15, the Chengdu Market Supervision Bureau issued a notice: the Gala exposed issues of “bleached chicken feet” and “miracle ‘panacea’ exosome,” involving Chengdu Shufu Xiang Food, Mingyang Food, and Jiebo Saier Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The municipal and city governments attached great importance, immediately forming joint investigation teams to carry out law enforcement actions, conducting comprehensive inspections of the involved companies, ordering them to cease operations, sealing all related products and raw materials, and further investigations are ongoing.

Just on February 28, 2026, Shufu Xiang was subjected to administrative penalties by the Quinglai City Market Supervision Administration. The penalty decision showed that the company’s original sliced dried meat (spicy flavor) tested positive for the colorant “Red No. 2,” which violated Article 34, Item 4 of the Food Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, prohibiting the production and sale of foods with excessive or unauthorized food additives.

The penalty included confiscation of illegal gains of 2,950.2 yuan and a fine of 2,000 yuan.

Once a liquor company

According to Qichacha data, Shufu Xiang Food was established in 1997, with Wang Liqun as the legal representative, registered capital of 23.8 million yuan, and about 400 employees.

Currently, Shufu Xiang Food has two shareholders: Chengdu Zhongxing Food Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Rongsheng Tai Group Co., Ltd., holding 60% and 40% of the shares respectively. After a thorough shareholding analysis, Wang Sicheng is the actual controller, holding 58.2% of the latter. Additionally, Shufu Xiang has invested in Chengdu Shuxianghui Food Co., Ltd., holding 40% of its shares.

Media reports indicate that Shufu Xiang is located in the industrial park of Quinglai City, covering about 60 acres, with a total investment of 300 million yuan. Its main products include various catering ingredients, packaged dishes, and leisure foods, mainly focusing on chicken feet, pig by-products, poultry products, and vegetable seasonings. The full catering sector includes a series of products based on these ingredients. Shufu Xiang’s annual production exceeds 40,000 tons, with an annual output value of 1.2 billion yuan, and it provides OEM and ODM services for existing products and other meat products.

Interestingly, the Securities Times reporter further learned that more than six years ago, Shufu Xiang was a white liquor company, formerly known as Sichuan Junle Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Junle Group”), from December 1997 to October 2019.

Before October 2019, Junle Group’s business scope included wholesale and retail of bottled liquor, bulk white liquor, chemical products (excluding dangerous goods), metal materials (excluding rare and precious metals), building materials, and brewing raw materials. On October 11 of the same year, after a shareholding change, Zhongxing Food and Rongsheng Tai Group took control, and the company was renamed Shufu Xiang. Its business scope was expanded to include the production, processing, and sale of meat products, seasonings, hot pot base, cooking oil, and more.

Shufu Xiang also has a branch, Sichuan Junle Group Ju You Wine Sales Co., Ltd., which is currently listed as “cancelled.”

This is not too surprising. The history of brewing in Quinglai dates back over two thousand years. Records in the “Records of the Grand Historian” and the “Book of Han” mention Quing wine, which became famous and is one of the oldest and most well-documented famous liquors in China. In the 1980s and 1990s, Quinglai had over 1,600 liquor producers, with nearly 70% of the country’s raw liquor production. About 80% of the raw liquor exported from Sichuan was from Quinglai, and Quing wine’s aroma spread across the country.

Unfortunately, Quinglai’s liquor industry has long been stuck in a development model of “making clothes for others,” lacking independent branding and innovation, and failing to seize opportunities to create its own top brands. Among the five major liquor production areas in Sichuan, Quinglai has long been lagging behind. Liquor industry analyst Xiao Zhuqing told reporters that as leading liquor companies increase capacity, demand for raw liquor from lesser-known producers decreases. Coupled with overcapacity in the entire industry, small-scale raw liquor producers in Quinglai face unprecedented pressure.

In recent years, Quinglai has been striving to develop into a national full-industry chain for alcohol, attracting over 600 enterprises involved in production and sales, forming a complete industry chain covering raw grain supply, product research and development, packaging, bottling, warehousing, logistics, and financial services. According to the official WeChat of the Quinglai Liquor Industry Development Center, by 2025, the total output value of liquor enterprises above designated size in Quinglai is expected to grow by 5.6% year-on-year, with the second phase of the Shui Jing Fang full-industry chain base included in key provincial projects, and over 600,000 aging barrels in the Qiongzhou distillery.

Source: E Company

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