China Consumer Reports, a Guangdong magazine that focuses on consumption trends and behaviors, posted a report on its website Jan 5, claiming that top five vinegar brands of North China's Shanxi province, namely Donghu, Shuita, Zilin, Nihuafu and Siyanjing, had failed to meet the vinegar production standards.

The report then viral on the net and seriously affected the companies’image. In response to it, a press conference was held under the auspices of Shanxi Food Industry Association and a joint statement was issued by the five enterprises at the conference.

At the meeting, the representatives of the five vinegar manufacturers as well as the food industry association refuted the magazine’s report as unfounded and addressed the media’s concerns regarding Shanxi’s vinegar production.

"Does the vinegar produced by those five brands really fail to meet the standards?",is a question that all the media and consumers are concerned about.

According to the China Consumer Reports story, the magazine has sent 10 mature vinegar- one of vinegar varieties- samples produced by Shanxi’s seven vinegar manufacturers, including Donghu, Shuitai, Zilin, Ninghuafu and Siyanjing, to an authoritative third party organization for testing in September, 2014. The testing covered most indicators for mature vinegar quality evaluation, namely total acid, fixed acid, ph value, total flavonoids, ligustrazine and amino acid nitrogen.

This testing results yielded that the total acid and fixed acid of six samples complied with the parameters listed in the old version of Shanxi mature vinegar production standards. However, the ph value and fixed acid of the five brands’ samples were less than the values recommended by the industry's new standards.

The test results, according to the magazine, concluded that none of the five brands' samples would have been qualified if judged by new standards.

The representatives of the five vinegar manufactures at the press conference rejected the report on the basis of four factors.

First of all, they pointed out that Shanxi's mature vinegar industry started to implement new standards from Oct 1, 2014, to replace the old standards. They stressed that the vinegar samples sent for testing were produced earlier than the September 2014. Therefore, they were produced in line with the old standards.

However, in the magazine's report, it assumed the products were unqualified if in accordance with new standards without making it clear the production dates. The representatives, therefore, questioned the validity of the claims in the report.

Secondly, the expression "an authoritative third party testing organization" was mentioned many times in the story. But it failed to tell the readers which organization it is, and the full testing report was not available to the readers.

Thirdly, the new version of standards was nationally recommended, but not compulsory as was the case with the old version. In order to improve vinegar product's flavor and taste through upgrading its production standards, the new version of standards was drafted by Shanxi mature vinegar's geographical indication office, Shanxi vinegar industry association and the province’s food industry research institute as well as some well-known vinegar manufacturers before it was approved by the state authorities. It was implemented from Oct 1, 2014 by Shanxi’s vinegar industry.

Finally, the vinegar that manufactured in accordance with new standards is only different from its old version in taste and flavor, and will not harm consumers’ health. In the joint statement, the five enterprises declared that Shanxi's vinegar industry is a national industry that developed through efforts for generations. The mature vinegar is produced by a unique technology, which was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage. Shanxi's vinegar industry can not tolerate any defaming. The magazine’s news report on Jan 5 that judged the old products as unqualified under new standards has confused rights and wrongs and is misleading for the consumers.

The statement asked the China Consumer Reports to withdraw its report and issue correction at the mainstream media for the brands that were affected by the report.

The five enterprises are confident that their products can stand any testing by any organization at all levels, the representatives said.