Trust in ice cream maker melts away

Haagen-Dazs, a major brand name of the company General Mills, is the subject of a crisis of confidence in this southern city after the firm was discovered to have been operating illegally.

Last week, a citizen reported a company that was making the ice cream in the city to the local quality supervision bureau, believing the firm was violating the US food giant's brand name.

However, when trading standards staff raided the factory, an ordinary three-room apartment on the 10th floor of a building in Luohu District, they found another problem.

The Shenzhen workshop was an authorized producer of the ice cream, but did not meet hygiene regulations.

The flat's living room, which is next to a toilet, had been changed into a mini-factory, with work tables and ovens along the wall and a big rubbish bin in the centre, according to a report in the local newspaper Shenzhen Evening News. Paint on the walls was also flaking off.

Seven large-sized refrigerators, with Haagen-Dazs labels on them, were located in the next room. Inside the finished ice cream cakes and raw materials, such as butter and fruit, were stored. The rest of the apartment was used as an office and a warehouse.

Colourful posters advertising Haagen-Dazs products could be seen here and there inside the apartment, reminding the trading standards officers of a possible relationship between the workshop and the top ice cream brand.

A manager from Haagen-Dazs' Shenzhen office confirmed it was their authorized workshop that supplied ice cream to the five Haagen-Dazs stores in the city.

But the law enforcers found the firm's hygiene permit was invalid because the manufacturing location had changed.

"Given the poor working environment, food quality could not be guaranteed," said a director with the Luohu Division of Hygiene Supervision. He blamed the workshop operator for violating the country's Law on Food Hygiene regulations.

Shortly after the incident, senior management from General Mills China flew from Shanghai, the firm's regional headquarters, to Shenzhen.

They apologized to consumers for their poor management and removed all ice cream from the five Haagen-Dazs shops in Shenzhen. They also decided that consumers with receipts could get a refund.

General Mills also closed the Shenzhen mini-factory, and said it will accelerate the construction of a kitchen centre in Guangzhou to serve South China.

According to senior management, locally made ice cream accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the total amount of Haagen-Dazs products on sale in Shenzhen, where supplies are mainly imported.

Despite the apology from General Mills, local consumers reacted badly to the news.

"I can't believe they served customers with products from an illegal workshop. The image has been damaged," one customer told China Daily.

Source: China Daily