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Crime

China food scandals: factories use smelly insoles, chemically bleached chicken feet to make snacks

A food factory in China has been exposed for making popular chicken feet snacks using chemicals in unhygienic conditions.
The factory soaked the chicken in harmful…

By Samantha Johnson / March 22, 2026

A food factory in China has been exposed for making popular chicken feet snacks using chemicals in unhygienic conditions.

The factory soaked the chicken in harmful hydrogen peroxide, sparking public outrage and thrusting the country’s food safety record back under the spotlight.

In the annual Consumers’ Right Day Show broadcast by state media CCTV on March 15, the Mingyang Food Company in Chengdu, in southwestern Sichuan province, was revealed to have serious food safety problems.

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According to an undercover report by the media outlet, the workshop smelled, had sewage deposits on its floor and the production equipment was covered with greasy dirt.

An undercover investigation discovered piles of bleached chicken feet, above, on the factory floor. Photo: CCTV
An undercover investigation discovered piles of bleached chicken feet, above, on the factory floor. Photo: CCTV

Raw chicken feet were piled on the wet, dirty ground next to cleaning tools.

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