□Our reporter Rosasha
□Our reporter Ge Dongsheng Hu Jianhua
Everyone has a love for beauty. Nowadays, many criminals illegally add prohibited ingredients to so-called weight loss products by taking advantage of the psychology of “thin” people who want to lose weight easily and quickly to make huge profits.
Ms. Wang, a citizen of Xinghua, Jiangsu, who is deeply troubled by postpartum obesity, saw her friend Jiang share an article about the obvious weight loss effect of “Starry Sky Coffee” in the WeChat Moments. After consulting, she learned that Jiang’s mother, Chen It is the WeChat agent. With the mentality of trying it, she bought a box from Chen somewhere, but she did not expect to experience dizziness, insomnia and other adverse symptoms after drinking it for a few days. After searching on the Internet, she found a lot of information that “Starry Sky Coffee” contained sibutramine. She hurriedly asked Chen for consultation, but the other party was evasive.
So, Ms. Wang reported to the market supervision and management department and provided the remaining 17 packs of Starry Sky Coffee. The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau sent the coffee to the Taizhou Drug Inspection Institute for identification, and found that it contains an ingredient that is prohibited by the state from being added to food – sibutramine. Long-term use can lead to increased blood pressure, heart failure, and even stroke and sudden death.
The market supervision and management department transferred the clue to the public security organs, quickly filed a case for investigation and arrested Chen for the crime of selling poisonous and harmful food, and seized 300 bags of weight-loss coffee and 975 weight-loss chocolates that had not yet been sold. It was identified by the Taizhou Institute for Drug Control as containing sibutramine. After the police arrested Chen, his two online Wang Muna and Song surrendered to the crime one after another. According to statistics, the three people have accumulated a profit of more than 39,000 yuan from sales.
The case was transferred to Xinghua City Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After review, it was determined that from September 2020 to January 11, 2021, the “weight loss coffee” and “weight loss chocolate” sold by Chen and other three suspects were knowingly mixed with toxic and harmful non-food raw materials “Sibuqu”. Ming”, still making profits from sales in the circle of friends, has constituted the crime of selling poisonous and harmful food. At the same time, the actions of the three persons violated the physical health of the general public and harmed the social public interests, and met the conditions for filing a criminal incidental civil public interest lawsuit.
On December 31, 2021, the Xinghua City Procuratorate filed a criminal and incidental civil public interest lawsuit against the 3 defendants, requesting the 3 defendants to pay punitive damages for consumer losses and ten times the income 161,500 yuan. On February 25, 2022, the Xinghua City People’s Court sentenced the three defendants to imprisonment ranging from one year in prison with one year of probation to eight months in prison with one year of probation, and fined them. All requests.
In addition to Ms. Wang, 34 other victims in the case purchased this coffee, which were distributed in Heilongjiang, Gansu, Yunnan and other places. In order to release the compensation money to the victims as soon as possible, the Xinghua City Procuratorate and the market supervision and administration bureau of the city jointly produced a “Notification Letter”, which explained the handling of the case and the collection of compensation money, and informed the victims by letter.
Prosecutors said that the sale of toxic and harmful food may seem lucrative in the short term, but in the end it is a dream of making a fortune. For consumers, after eating these foods, it may cause physical damage. For the seller, once the case occurs, it is inevitable that they will be investigated for criminal responsibility, and may also pay a high amount of compensation. Food is the most important thing for the people, and food safety is a major livelihood issue that concerns everyone’s health and safety. For food sales personnel, they must fulfill their legal obligations to ensure food safety, prohibit the sale of products with unknown origin, incomplete labeling, and safety risks, and consciously be the guardian of food safety. For consumers, if they buy food that does not meet food safety standards and suffer damage, they can obtain compensation according to the law.
Prosecutors hereby suggest that consumers should not blindly trust and buy so-called special-effects weight loss products, and insist on exercising and eating a reasonable diet is the best choice to maintain a healthy body.