Frozen fish Photo: Xinhua

 

A Walmart store in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei Province, disinfected its store premises and disposed all its imported cold-chain foods after Walmart China ordered its orders to stop selling them, despite the foods testing negative for COVID-19. 

Web users earlier claimed the branch store in Wuhan's Wuchang district had disposed a large quantity of frozen foods. 

Through investigation, the district's business bureau found that the branch, located in Xudong area, had stopped selling frozen cold-chain foods after being directed to do so by Walmart China Inc. 

Related health authorities previously conducted two rounds of nucleic acid tests on its previously-sealed imported cold-chain foods, with both returning negative results for COVID-19. 

The branch disinfected its foods and premises before the foods started to be disposed on Monday by the local government's sanitation department. All the foods have already been destroyed.

An employee from the Xudong branch confirmed with the Global Times on Wednesday that the store had stopped selling and disposed of all its imported cold-chain foods after the store received a notification from the local authority last week. 

As for when imported cold-chain food sales will resume, the employee said they had to wait for the authority’s notification.