According to the Workers Daily: Zhouquan Town, Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province, is a city in the south of the Yangtze River. One of the birthplaces of silkworm culture. As the first silk quilt production base in China, there were 156 silk quilt companies of various types in Zhouquan Town in 2018. In 2016, some business owners produced and sold fake and inferior silk quilt products through “adulteration”, which caused a huge impact on the industry. The procuratorial organs encountered considerable difficulties in handling the case, but ultimately promoted the introduction of national silk cotton industry standards, and also promoted the standardization and healthy development of the entire industry.
The industry was affected by the addition of glycerin to silk cotton
In 2016, many silk products from Zhouquan Discovered by the company, a batch of much cheaper silk quilts appeared on the market. During a quality control inspection, problems were discovered with this batch of silk: the moisture regain and oil content of the silk floss exceeded standards.
The procuratorial organ found out the reason why this batch of silk was abnormally indexed. It turned out that Li Moumou and his wife Du Moumou formed a gang, and in order to obtain high profits, they hired workers to add glycerin (commonly known as glycerol) in the production process of silk floss in a silk cotton factory in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province.
“With the addition of glycerin, the water absorption capacity of silk quilts is higher than that of ordinary products, achieving the purpose of gaining weight. In this way, producers can reduce the silk floss components in the quilts, and the production costs are reduced. So as to make huge profits.” Chen Zhengyi, president of the Tongxiang Silk Bedding and Clothing Industry Association, said, “The performance and service life of silk quilts added with glycerin will be reduced.”
At that time, many silk cotton entrepreneurs expressed great concern . They believe that if the case is not handled effectively, the quality control system of Tongxiang silk and cotton products will be greatly impacted, and the entire industry will also be hit hard.
On October 31, 2017, the Tongxiang Municipal People’s Procuratorate prosecuted Li Moumou and Du Moumou for the crime of producing and selling counterfeit and inferior products.
Controversy over whether it is considered a “fake and inferior product”
The prosecution process of this case , encountered quite a problem.
Zhou Jie is the prosecutor in charge of the case. She said that the biggest focus of controversy in the case was whether the silk cotton products added with glycerin were “fake and shoddy products” subject to the crime of “producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy products.” Zhou Jie said, “According to legal provisions, if it is difficult to determine whether the product involved in the case is a counterfeit or shoddy product, a qualified product quality inspection agency should be entrusted to conduct an appraisal.”
In the end, the procuratorial agency, together with the investigative agency, obtained key evidence. We obtained more than 50 testimonies from glycerin suppliers and sellers, as well as sales account books and other documentary evidence, proving that the two principal criminals instigated workers to add glycerin to gain weight for profit. In addition, the Zhejiang Textile Testing Research Institute, which has appraisal qualifications, was entrusted with the appraisal according to law and concluded that the addition of glycerin to silk cotton is a fake and inferior product that reduces performance.
On September 14, 2018, the Tongxiang Municipal People’s Court made a first-instance judgment. Defendants Li Moumou and Du Moumou were guilty of producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy products, and were sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison respectively. and 2 years’ imprisonment, both concurrently with a fine. The two appealed, and on January 18, 2019, the Jiaxing Intermediate People’s Court ruled at the second instance to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.
Promote the introduction of national standards for the industry
When handling the case, the national standards and the silk cotton industry standards At the domestic level, there has been a lack of top-level design and specific regulations on silk cotton production processes and product quality. The Tongxiang Municipal People’s Procuratorate promptly made suggestions to the Municipal Quality Supervision Bureau to further speed up the formulation and introduction of silk cotton industry standards.
Finally, with the active promotion of the Tongxiang Quality Supervision Department, the silk cotton industry standard numbered FZ/T41005-2017 was officially announced in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s Announcement No. 48 of 2017, and was released in April 2018. It was officially promulgated and implemented on January 1st.
On October 18, 2019, the State Administration for Market Regulation approved the release of the GB/T24252-2019 “Silk Quilt” national standard with Announcement No. 13 of 2019. The standard clearly added that “fillers must not “Weight gain treatment” and other regulations, and the assessment requirements such as “filler quality” and “filler oil content” have been revised.
The introduction of this series of standards clearly quantifies the quality requirements for silk cotton production, which will help the silk cotton industry standardize production and operations.
“Comrades from the Procuratorate also came to the company to provide us with legal education and publicity, reminding us to strengthen legal risk prevention and operate with integrity and law-abiding.” Ni Dongdong, general manager of Tongxiang Canyuan Co., Ltd., said, “After the introduction of national standards , will definitely promote the healthy and orderly development of the entire industry.”
PS: Introduction to glycerin:
Glycerol (also known as glycerin) is an organic substance that is colorless, odorless, sweet, and appears as a clear, viscous liquid. It is miscible with water, alcohols, amines and phenols in any proportion, and the aqueous solution is neutral. Glycerin is a polyol moisturizer. The hydroxyl groups in the molecular structure can form hydrogen bonds with water molecules, which plays a good role in absorbing and locking water. Glycerol has a wide range of uses. Currently, it has more than 1,700 uses. It is used in both food and industry.
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