Was sentenced to pay 1 cent, the company refused to accept the prosecution, and the original verdict was revoked

Consumer Zheng bought a sandwich jujube product online.

Food company ordered to pay 1 cent

In December 2018, Zheng purchased a number of jujube products from a food company online.

On September 5, 2019, Zheng sued the court on the grounds that the actual fat content of the food was significantly different from the fat content indicated on the packaging bag, requesting the court to order the food company to compensate him 0.

The court held that the "General Rules for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods in National Food Safety Standards" stipulates that during the shelf life of the product, the allowable error range of the fat content should be less than or equal to 120% of the labeled value

Procuratorial organs intervene to find clues

After the judgment came into effect, the food company refused to accept it and applied to the court of first instance for a retrial

"The court's decision is mainly based on the evidence provided by Zheng, that is, the test report

The prosecutor handling the case found out after investigation and verification that the test report provided by Zheng lacked probative force

The review also found that the plaintiff did not file a complaint with the food safety supervision department in a timely manner, nor did he file a lawsuit with the court.

The prosecutor believes that the content of nutrients in food is affected by many factors, such as the geographical dimension of crop growth, light, soil, rain, growth time, etc.

Court reverses original judgment

On April 15, 2021, after discussion by the Procuratorial Committee of the Nanjing Municipal Procuratorate, a protest was filed with the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in accordance with the law on the grounds that there were doubts about the authenticity of the original inspection materials and that they met the express storage conditions, and that the testing methods were not equivalent

"Although the amount of compensation in the first-instance judgment was small, the evidence supporting the judgment lacked probative force, and the company involved was preparing to go public at the time.

　　After receiving the protest letter from the procuratorate, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court made a ruling after review and ordered the original trial court to retrial

　　Recently, the court of first instance made a retrial judgment: the original judgment was revoked and all the claims of Zheng were dismissed

Litigation "anti-counterfeiting" requires standardized evidence support

　　The Food Safety Law defines food safety as food that is non-toxic and harmless, meets the required nutritional requirements, and does not cause any acute, subacute or chronic harm to human health

　　At present, with the continuous improvement of consumers' requirements for food quality, many food manufacturers will mark product quality on product descriptions and food labels, and the promised quality standards are generally higher than the national food safety standards

　　In the process of specific rights protection, consumers should strengthen their awareness of evidence

　　Although citizens' "anti-counterfeiting" has a positive effect on promoting producers and operators to improve food safety and quality, if they only focus on defects in the appearance of food packaging such as labels and instructions, and do not involve substantive food safety issues, food production enterprises will not be affected.
Prosecuting and pursuing accountability according to the degree of harm will not only dampen the enthusiasm of producers and operators, but even have a negative impact on the operation and development of enterprises
.
For example, in this case, although Zheng's lawsuit only claimed 1 cent of compensation, which is more symbolic than economic punishment, the successful outcome of the lawsuit is bound to have a negative impact on the production enterprises that have not found any substantial food safety problems.
The impact is almost fatal for companies preparing to go public
.

　　To maintain a good order of food market operation, supervision departments should be the mainstay, and consumer supervision should be supplemented, giving full play to the supervisory role of various entities and forming a joint social governance force, thereby urging producers and operators to enhance their awareness of law-abiding, strengthen industry self-discipline, and continuously Improve product quality
.
In the process of accepting such litigation supervision applications and investigating and verifying in accordance with the law, the procuratorial organs should be guided by the concept of precise supervision, adhere to an objective and fair position, accurately apply relevant laws and regulations, conduct in-depth examination of the facts of the case, and strictly monitor the evidence in the case.
Carefully screen and make overall plans between purifying the market, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and creating a fair and orderly market operating environment
.

　　(Zhou Yan)

"China Food News" (03 edition on April 8, 2022)

　　(Editor-in-charge: Zhou Yan)