China's Cabbage Is Soaked In A Cancer Causing Chemical And Shipped Nationwide

China is facing another food safety scare after a viral video exposed produce merchants in Kangbao County, in Hebei province's Zhangjiakou city, dipping napa cabbage in formaldehyde solution before loading it onto trucks bound for markets around the country. According to a report from Lianhe Zaobao, the footage, posted on August 22, showed workers in Tunken Township submerging cabbages in containers plainly labeled with the chemical's name, using it to keep the vegetables looking fresh and to reduce spoilage over long distance hauls.

Reporting on the fallout, HK01 noted that officials moved quickly to trace where the affected cabbage had already gone, given how far the supply chain out of Kangbao, one of China's largest cabbage growing regions, typically reaches. Separate accounts of the episode say shipments from the area had already reached Jiangsu, Anhui and wholesale markets elsewhere in the country: one blogger who bought Hebei grown cabbage at a market in Hefei had it tested and confirmed formaldehyde residue, while a truck driver caught on camera said his own load was headed for Suzhou.

The Kangbao county government issued a statement on the afternoon of August 22 confirming that the video was accurate. Following a preliminary review by agriculture, market regulation and public security departments, officials said the footage reflected unlawful preservation practices by produce buyers during the loading process. Authorities said they had taken compulsory measures against the people and vehicles involved and were racing to trace the full distribution path of the tainted cabbage, while also promising a broader inspection of the county's entire vegetable supply chain, covering purchasing, transport and sales alike, with strict penalties for any further violations uncovered.

State media weighed in forcefully as well. The People's Daily's app published a sharp rebuke of the merchants, saying the decision to risk consumers' health for the sake of appearance and profit was an especially egregious act that showed total disregard for public safety, calling it a clear violation of the law and a breach of basic ethical limits, and insisting that food safety issues demand swift and severe handling.

Formaldehyde is classified by the World Health Organization as a Group 1 carcinogen. The colorless, sharp smelling compound can severely damage the respiratory, digestive, circulatory and nervous systems when ingested or inhaled in quantity, and has been linked to a heightened risk of leukemia and other cancers. Food safety law explicitly bars its use as a processing aid or preservative in food production, meaning any use of the chemical on produce meant for sale is a criminal act regardless of the amount involved.

This is far from the first time formaldehyde treated cabbage has surfaced in China. Authorities in Shandong were first caught spraying formaldehyde on cabbage for preservation back in 2012, an episode that led inspectors in Guangzhou to seize more than 120 tons of the tainted vegetable that had been shipped in from Shandong and Yunnan. A similar case turned up at a wholesale vegetable market in Dingzhou, also in Hebei, in 2025, before this month's discovery in Kangbao made clear the practice has never fully gone away. （Related： Beijing Watch | Taiwan's Toxic Oil Scandal Stirs Anxiety Across the Strait ｜ Latest ）

As the story spread, Taiwan's health authorities moved to reassure the public that the tainted vegetables had not entered the island's supply chain. According to a report from the Central News Agency, Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration said on August 24 that mainland Chinese cabbage falls under an existing import ban, listed as an MW0 restricted item barred from import under the Ministry of Economic Affairs' rules. Tsai Chia-fen, deputy director of the FDA's Northern Regional Management Center, said the agency's border inspection system showed zero import inspection records for Chinese cabbage between January 1 and August 20 of this year, indicating no evidence that any of the affected product entered Taiwan through official import channels.