CHINA — A restaurant in China has apologised after an employee was caught on camera mixing concentrated orange juice with tap water in a sink used to wash floor mops. 

The incident occurred at chain restaurant Tianye Restaurant in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province on Aug 25. 

A customer took a video of an employee placing a large pot of concentrated orange juice into a basin used for washing mops and adding tap water. 

Brooms, mops and a dustpan with food scraps in it can be seen hanging above the mop basin, adding to the unsanitary nature of the act. 

“You added tap water to this concentrated orange juice for us to drink,” the man exclaimed to an audience of stunned customers.

In response to the scandal, Tianye Restaurant issued an apology on Aug 26, saying that the employees involved have been suspended and sent for training and the manager had been demoted. 

The restaurant also said that it would strengthen its food safety procedures.

The local market authority responsible for overseeing food safety regulations has said that it has sent law enforcement officers down to investigate and filed a case against parties involved. 

“Subsequent investigations will be carried out in accordance with the law and regulations and will be dealt with seriously,” said the local market regulator in a statement on Aug 28.

VIRAL VIDEO SPARKS OUTRAGE AMONG CHINESE NETIZENS

The video went viral online, sparking outrage among Chinese netizens, where food safety has long been an issue of public concern.

The most circulated Weibo video post of the incident uploaded on Aug 27 received over 650,000 views and over 2,000 likes as of Tuesday (Sept 5).

A top comment on the micro-blogging platform called for the local market regulator to revoke the licence of the restaurant. 

In response, a Weibo user said: "In fact, this is the case everywhere. If they (the local market regulator) work, the food hygiene situation will not be like this."

Another demanded stricter penalties, stating that the current measures were ineffective: "They should be fined 100,000 (yuan) (S$18,632) for the first time and 200,000 (yuan) for the second time. Let's see who else dares to do it in the future, it's because the punishments are too light."

“There should be a bottom line, it cannot only be only about profits,” an online observer said about the restaurant operators.

Another commenter suggested that such instances were so common in China that other customers in the restaurant were indifferent: “The other customers in the store did not bat an eye and they are still eating there. The normal reaction should be to swarm to the back kitchen to check. Most people are already numb.”

Another also recounted a personal experience: "This is still in the back kitchen!

"I have seen it many times in public dining areas of many beverage stores and restaurants where (workers) touch the insides of the cup to grab the cup. Is it even possible to have a clean place to eat out?"

Food safety scandals in schools and restaurants frequently make headlines in China.

In June this year, a kindergarten in the southeastern province of Jiangxi was shut down when a staff member was caught on camera cleaning children's tableware and utensils in a urinal trough.

In the same month, a rat head was found in a student’s canteen meal in Jiangxi province, which local authorities had previously reassured was duck neck.