A Chinese noodle factory has been shut down after images surfaced of workers sleeping on and sticking their bare feet in piles of noodles before they were sent off for distribution.
Daily Mail reports that the Tongcheng Rice Noddle Factory of Daojiao County was caught breaking similar hygiene rules last year and owners have since promised to enforce a cleaner working environment.
But the pictures show the workers standing in the noodles as they work in an assembly line to prepare the food for packaging.
One worker was even photographed taking a nap on the massive heap of noodles. The staff members should not only be wearing shoes, but also caps to make sure their hair doesn’t get into the food.
The Dongguan Food and Drug Administration released a statement on the hygiene violation saying:
Undercover photographs taken in the rice products factory show plain clothes employees kicking around piles of noodles on the floor with their bare feet.
“They are trampling over them as they walk about and even laying down to take their afternoon naps before packaging them up and shipping them to stores. We will not tolerate such breaches of the health and hygiene laws.”
The factory’s products are consumed all throughout China and the US, according to Daily Mail.
The director of the factory said the pictures were taken during a night shift sometime around the Chinese New Year last February. He said he allowed his employees to work in whatever clothing they wanted out of sympathy for the heavy work load at the time.
He also said the workers pictured are no longer employed at the factory and hygiene policies have changed significantly over the past few months.
But Dongguan’s Food and Drug Administration has shut down the factory and the employees will undergo health examinations. The factory’s bosses could be subject to huge fines and even jail time for this second violation.
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