Eastwes Salmon & Carrot Nutritious Rice Cereal Found with Excessive Moisture

Recently, the Henan Provincial Market Supervision Administration issued a notice on 39 batches of non-compliant food (No. 52 of 2021).

Among them, one batch of salmon and carrot nutritional rice cereal (250g (25g×10 bags)/box, "Eastwes + letters + graphics" trademark, production date: 2020-11-12) sold by Beizhiliang Maternity and Baby Store in Guancheng District, Zhengzhou and labeled as produced by Shanghai Eastwes Children's Food Co., Ltd. (Eastwes Children's Food Factory) had a moisture test value of 6.51%, while the standard specifies no more than 6.0%.

Moisture is a physical and chemical indicator and an intrinsic quality factor of food. Product standards for various foods often have clear limits on moisture content, and the moisture level reflects the water content of a product. Proper moisture control can prevent the decomposition, enzymatic deterioration and mildew of functional ingredients or nutrients, helping to maintain stable product quality. Non-compliant moisture in food has no major impact on human health; however, excessive moisture may shorten shelf life, make products prone to mildew, and cause product quality to decline.

An inquiry revealed that products of Shanghai Eastwes Children's Food Co., Ltd. were also reported for food safety issues in 2015:

According to the 2015 food safety supervision sampling notice (VII) — second quarter food safety supervision sampling issued by the former Shanghai Food and Drug Administration, the all-functional animal biscuits ("Quanjineng/Eastwes" trademark, 100g/can, production date: 2015/03/21) labeled as produced by Shanghai Eastwes Children's Food Co., Ltd. (Eastwes Children's Food Factory) had a total plate count of 5400 CFU/g versus a standard of no more than 750 CFU/g, and a coliform count of 230 MPN/100g versus a standard of no more than 30 MPN/100g.

Total plate count is an indicator microorganism, not a pathogen indicator. It is mainly used to evaluate food cleanliness and reflect whether food meets hygiene requirements during production, and to a certain extent indicates the quality of food hygiene. Excessive total plate count indicates that the product's hygiene condition fails to meet basic hygiene requirements, which will destroy the nutritional content of the food, accelerate spoilage, and cause the food to lose its edible value.

Coliform bacteria are one of the commonly used indicator organisms for food contamination both domestically and internationally. The detection of coliform bacteria in food suggests a high likelihood of contamination by intestinal pathogens.

According to the official website of Shanghai Eastwes Children's Food Co., Ltd., since its founding in 1996, Eastwes has been committed to exploring and researching scientific feeding for Chinese infants and young children. It now offers more than 100 nutritional complementary foods and products in over twenty series, including the animal protein series, multi-dimensional vegetable series and rice cereal series, and has received honors such as the "Quality and Reputation" double-guarantee demonstration unit, "Shanghai Children's Favorite Product" and "Recommended Brand of the China Eugenics Science Association".