S: Hi everyone. Welcome to CBN Friday Special, I’m Stephanie LI.

R: And I’m ZHANG Ran. 

S: Ran, did you watch this year’s “3.15 Gala” on Tuesday night?

R: I did. And I was so shocked to see the “muddy ground pickled vegetables” from a pickle supplier for popular instant noodle brand Master Kong, which I used to enjoy in the middle of massive tasks. 

S: I know. Fields, where workers made pickled vegetables, are muddy grounds littered with cigarettes, and workers were found smoking and stepping on the vegetables with their bare feet as they worked, CCTV reported in an investigative story that aired on the gala.

The topic with the hashtag "muddy ground pickled vegetables" soon topped China's social media platform Sina Weibo, with 180 million views and 30,000 discussions the next day. Consumers were shocked and angered by some enterprises' problematic sanitation conditions and lack of food safety management, as revealed on World Consumer Rights Day. 

R: In response to the scandal, Master Kong, China's largest instant noodle maker, admitted that it had purchased the pickled cabbage concerned to produce a kind of popular instant noodles. Master Kong further said it has since suspended its cooperation with the pickled cabbage supplier concerned. It also apologised for its lapse and said it quickly ensured all related products were taken off the shelves.

S: But it was too late, as shares of Hong Kong-listed Master Kong dropped 2.31 percent on Wednesday, after tumbling more than 14 percent intraday. And there’re more scandals revealed on food safety issue, such as Shuanghui, a slaughtering and meat processing company based in Central China's Henan Province, was also found to have problems in one of its factories. Pork chops that fell to the ground were picked up and packaged. Shuanghui later apologised, sealed 310 kilograms of the products in question and suspended the work of the person in charge.

R: While law enforcement authorities have responded swiftly after food safety problems occur, experts call for tougher punishment on violations of food safety rules. According to the newly amended Food Safety Law, which took effect in 2019, in addition to punishment for enterprises, individual workers violating the law in cases that have serious consequences can be fined 10 times the income they earned from the enterprise in the previous year. However, the implementation of relevant regulations at the local level is not efficient, where fines are usually low as local governments need to take local jobs and economic development into consideration. Compared with fines of hundreds of millions overseas, the cost for crossing the food safety red line is relatively low for domestic production enterprises, a veteran food industry observer said. 

S: On the other hand, this year’s 3.15 show also cast focus on fraudulent practices in the country’s $188.3 billion live-streaming sector, which has attracted Beijing’s scrutiny. This year featured criticism of how some live-streaming e-commerce shows induced male followers to send gifts to attractive, female internet influences, who were later impersonated, in some instances, by male members of staff. The show highlighted a company named Juxiang Huyu, which used a staff team to keep in touch with men who had sent gifts, which could be redeemed for cash, to internet influencers enticing them to send more money and tips.

R: The show also highlighted the dangers of consumers being persuaded to make snap purchases during live-streaming e-commerce shows. It put its finger on an online jewellery store, which invited jade suppliers to its live-steaming show who then promised buyers a discount. However, the TV show conducted a secret interview with an employee who alleged that the suppliers were actually actors.

S: The fact that live-streaming has been shamed on the high-profile show indicates that Beijing still has its eye on the industry. iiMedia Research Group estimates live-streaming online shopping was worth 1.2 trillion yuan in 2021. But the sector has weak controls of product quality and counterfeits from providers. The industry gained added traction during the pandemic, as more people shopped at home during lockdowns and quarantine procedures. But fresh criticism of the booming live-streaming sector comes after some of the industry’s leading lights have been fined millions of yuan for tax evasion by the authorities, including Viya, Xueli Cherie, Lin Shanshan and others.

R: Apart from what we have discussed, the gala also exposed cases of violations of consumers' rights, including the fast download traps, blind boxes, smartwatches for kids being hacked, manipulated business reviews, and many more. And the companies are trying to fix the problems. For example, Douyin has banned the live-streaming room CCTV exposed for having a male anchor who pretended to be a woman to get viewers to gift money.

S: We expect the relevant industries could step into a healthy, benign, and orderly development path through better self-regulation, tougher government oversights and punishment on violations.

On a different note, Chinese stocks continued its rally on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.12 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.31 percent higher. Shares related to building energy-saving and coal posted stellar performances, while shares of digital currency saw major losses. Hong Kong stocks fell, halting a stunning two-day rebound in Chinese tech stocks, as investors wait for China to deliver policy measures to complement its vow to shore up the economy and stabilise the market. The Hang Seng Index retreated 0.41 percent and the TECH Index closed down 1.92 percent.

2022年“315晚会”以“公平守正 安心消费”为主题，重点关注互联网平台经济、食品安全问题、公共安全问题以及医美安全等。此次“3·15晚会”一共曝光了13个问题，包括口碑营销公司操纵网友的搜索结果、女主播微信实为男运营专骗粉丝大哥、“土坑”酸菜、免费Wi-Fi暗藏漏洞、骚扰电话背后黑手、电动车超速改装等，涉及公司包括英迈思、康师傅、统一等，美股上市公司容联云、A股上市公司新日股份也涉及其中。

老坛酸菜成“土坑”酸菜？食品安全是3·15晚会的重点关注方向之一。今年，3·15晚会曝光了“土坑”酸菜问题，很多人爱吃的老坛酸菜面的酸菜，竟是土坑腌制，卫生堪忧。

插旗菜业是湖南省华容县较大的蔬菜再加工企业，为多家知名企业代加工酸菜制品，也为一些方便面企业代加工老坛酸菜包，号称老坛工艺，足时发酵。央视记者实地探访得知，该企业标准化腌制池腌出来的酸菜是用来加工出口产品的，老坛酸菜包里的酸菜则是从外面收购来的“土坑酸菜”。央视记者跟插旗员工来到附近一片农田。工人们有的穿着拖鞋，有的光着脚，踩在酸菜上，有的甚至一边抽烟一边干活，抽完的烟头直接扔到酸菜上。

曝光之后，方便面企业康师傅发布声明表示，湖南插旗菜业有限公司是该公司酸菜供应商之一，康师傅已立即中止其供应商资格，取消一切合作，封存其酸菜包产品，积极配合监管部门调查与检测，并下架所有有关产品。

3月16日，港股康师傅控股开盘后股价迅速下跌，盘中一度跌超15%，截至收盘，康师傅控股报13.54港元，跌幅为2.31%，市值为763亿港元。插旗菜业被曝光后，当晚电商平台已无法搜到老坛酸菜产品，插旗菜业官网已无法访问。另外，其官网显示，其合作伙伴包括肯德基、康师傅、统一等多家企业。当日晚间，肯德基发布微博回应称，插旗菜业不是肯德基的供应商，与肯德基没有任何关系，已经勒令其马上撤下官网不实信息 。

互联网乱象继续被狙击。在今年的315晚会上，信息安全是其中一个最重要的关键词，多个板块都涉及到相关内容。例如软件下载平台捆绑下载的问题，很多用户在安装软件的时候，可能会去一些专门的软件网站去下载，但之后会多了不需要的软件，出现弹窗广告，甚至电脑变得有些卡顿。除此之外，晚会中曝光的聚享互娱传媒有限公司存在由男子冒充女主播，诱骗用户刷礼物、打赏，专骗粉丝的行为。被曝光后，聚享互娱官网处于无法访问状态，被点名的女主播直播账号已被封。

另外，还有大量直播间号称将砍价现场搬到了原产地缅甸。例如，承泽翡翠直播宣称，主播在缅甸曼德勒矿区现场砍价，为粉丝代购。而事实上，直播是在承泽翡翠位于昆明市的一栋办公楼里，货主身着缅甸服装，现场布景均为伪造。而主播们费尽心思伪造的身份和搭建的“缅甸”为的就是骗粉丝购买所谓的高品质翡翠。目前，直播平台已经将相关账号封停。

在今年的315晚会上，10类问题中有7个与互联网技术相关。实际上，过去一年，直播带货成为偷税漏税的重灾区，微娅、雪梨等多名头部主播被罚款、封杀；非法收集用户信息、操纵互联网数据等现象更是存在已久，2019年至2021年315晚会上已经多次曝光相关不法行为。

最后来看一下今天股市情况。周五A股继续回升，沪指收涨1.12%，深成指涨0.3%，两市超3500只个股上涨。煤炭概念股、电力股、地产板块走强，而数字货币跌幅居前。港股收盘，恒生指数收跌0.41%，恒生科技指数收跌1.92%，科技、医药板块领跌。

（欢迎大家提供意见和反馈，请联系主播李莹亮：liyl@21jingji.com）

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI, ZHANG Ran, CHEN Zihui

Sound Editor: ZHANG Ran, CHEN Zihui

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Co-produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News & SFC Audio/Video Dept.

Presented by SFC

编委:  于晓娜

策划、编辑：李艳霞 

播音：李莹亮

撰稿：李莹亮、张然、陈梓慧

音频制作：张然 、陈梓慧

设计：郑文静、廖苑妮

21世纪经济报道海外部 南财音视频部  联合制作

南方财经全媒体集团  出品 

（作者：李莹亮,张然 编辑：李艳霞）