China's popular bakery chain Holiland came under fire on the 25th after a consumer in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province reported that a local store continued to sell bread that had fallen on the floor. Holiland issued a public apology on the 27th.
According to a trending article on China's Weibo platform, a customer witnessed a staff member pick up a “Sausage Danish” from the floor and put it back on the shelf, and immediately posted a warning online for everyone to avoid the store.
Holiland’s official customer service responded on the 27th, saying they are deeply sorry for the incident. The affected batch of products was all destroyed on site that same day. The customer service representative stated that food safety is the company’s bottom line, and Holiland has strictly prohibited the sale of defective or contaminated products. In addition, Holiland will strengthen employee training to prevent such incidents from happening again.
However, some netizens lashed out at Holiland, saying the company only took action because it had been caught, and questioned what happens when no one is watching. Others said they would never shop at Holiland again.
Some netizens also questioned the explanation of “new staff negligence” as being perfunctory. More importantly, video footage showed that no other staff intervened or raised the alarm during the entire process. If it was really a mistake by a new employee, why did no senior staff or the store manager notice in time? This suggests there might be broader issues with the store’s daily management and supervision.