Pork Scandal
China's food-safety scandals may have claimed their latest victim in the form of America's largest retailer.
On Monday, Walmart announced in a statement that its CEO for China was stepping down for personal reasons, along with the company's vice president for human resources in China. This after a food-safety probe in the western city of Chongqing shut down 13 Walmart stores, led 37 employees to be detained and at least two arrested. At the core of the matter? Regular pork being labeled as "organic."
As far as China's food-safety scandals go, this would seem to be on the low end of scary. The country has dealt with everything from deadly baby formula to exploding watermelons in recent years, in a system plagued by corruption and lack of independent oversight and enforcement of standards.
Despite the timing, Walmart decide CEO Ed Chan's departure was related to pork. The head of the company's Asia operations will step in to lead the China team, which has become one of this country's top retail chains in recent years.
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