December 23, 2011

Food scandal-hit Wal-Mart China Stores has set up a new department to oversee food safety following the "Green Pork" scandal.

Scott Price, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia announced that the department will ensure its operations meet government requirements.

"We hope the new department will improve the company's management ability to a higher level," said Price.

The move comes after a series of food scandals, most notably "Green Pork", where the retailer's Chongqing branch was found to have sold 63,547kg of ordinary pork as organic pork, generating RMB730,000 (US$114,334) of illegal income. A total of 25 staff at the Chonqing store were detained and the company was fined RMB2.7 million (US$426 million).

The investigation was closely followed by the departure of then-CEO Ed Chan, who said he had quit for "personal reasons."