Leading cookware maker Zhejiang Supor Co is in hot water, following a CCTV report on February 16 that said some of its products are substandard. The report said four categories of products had been found to have an excessive amount of manganese, a chemical element that in large amounts could potentially cause neurological diseases.

Supor, the largest cookware producer by sales in 2010 according to China Hardware Information Center, insisted that its cookware was perfectly safe, but it's not the first time their products have been criticized for poor quality. Amid widespread public discussion of the issue, some are calling for tougher national safety standards for cookware.
Different standards

Harbin Administration of Industry and Commerce in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province found that a total of 960 Supor cookware products had excessive quantities of manganese and insufficient levels of nickel in sampling inspections from early 2009 to August last year, according to the CCTV report.

Supor responded by saying that its products all meet China's safety standards. It also published test results saying that its pots and pans comply with standards for manganese migration set by Italy. Supor said Italy is the only country that has standards for manganese migration, which is the risk of manganese in cookware getting into food.

Supor Chairman Su Xianze told China National Radio last Tuesday that all the company's products meet the national safety standard that was issued last year, and pointed out that the products had been certified as safe by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

However, Supor products don't necessarily comply with national standards for materials, an expert surnamed Xiao at the Stainless Steel Council of China Special Steel Enterprises Association told the Global Times.

"Even if Supor's stainless steel cookware products comply with national safety standards, they also need to meet material quality standards, or they would be regarded as substandard products," Xiao noted.

According to Xiao, the manganese content in stainless steel cookware products should be no more than 2 percent, while the Supor products that were inspected by the authorities in Harbin were found to contain as much as 8 percent, or four times the national standard.

"Supor is talking about manganese migration, but its products have problems in terms of materials, which is different," Liang Zhenpeng, an independent home appliance watcher, told the Global Times.

Stainless steel with higher manganese and lower nickel content than national standards has poor corrosion resistance, said Xiao, pointing out that the price of nickel is 130,000 yuan ($20,644) per ton, 10 times that of manganese. 

Conflict of interests

The Ministry of Health issued a new standard for stainless steel products last December, but the standard has no requirement for manganese migration.

"Without dealing with manganese migration, the new standard is regressive to some extent. The Ministry of Health needs to listen to public opinion and industry experts to make proper improvements," Liang noted.

However, Li Ning, a researcher with the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment under the Ministry of Health, said during a press conference last Friday that consumers don't need to worry about manganese poisoning when using stainless steel cookware as manganese migration from the cookware is harmless to health.

Some experts said the root of the problem is a conflict of interests between the stainless steel product industry and the stainless steel material industry.

"There are several standards in China on stainless steel products made by different authorities and the Ministry of Health didn't coordinate between them when making related safety standards for stainless steel cookware," Liu Buchen, a home appliance expert at Zhengzhou-based home appliance consulting company Jiachunqiu Media, told the Global Times.

The materials used by Supor for the cookware in question don't comply with the standard recommended by the stainless steel material industry, the National Business Daily reported last Saturday, citing an unnamed manufacturer of thermos cups. But this standard would require cookware companies to use more expensive materials in their products.

Bad impact

This is not the first time Supor's products have come in for criticism. Last month, some of the company's electric and induction cookers were found to be substandard during an inspection by Shaanxi Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision. The bureau said that 14 percent of the company's electric cookers and 23 percent of its induction cookers failed to meet quality standards.

However, the company has refused to offer any apologies or take any rectification measures, so Supor will probably continue to be seen as a problem brand, said Liu.

Electronic appliance retailers including Suning and Dazhong shops in Beijing stopped selling the problematic Supor cookware last October, according to the Beijing Times.

Gome decided on February 17 that its nationwide outlets would stop selling the products. Guangzhou, Shijiazhuang and Kunming have also seen some supermarkets stop selling the cookware in question. Consumers can get the products changed or refunded at some supermarkets including Tesco and Wu Mart in Beijing.

However, Supor's hotline insisted that its products are safe and that it would not offer refunds.

Supor was acquired by French home appliance company Groupe SEB in 2007, and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

"It should pay more attention to consumers, but it gave nothing but weak arguments. It highlights both Supor's quality problems and its poor crisis management. If this crisis cannot be dealt with appropriately, it will be bad for the firm's future development,"Liu noted.

Some customers are also worried that if there are problems with products made by Supor, the biggest cookware manufacturer in China by output, maybe other brands could be substandard too.

"I want to stop using Supor products in my kitchen, but at the same time I don't know what other brands to trust," said Wang Weipeng, a bank worker in Beijing.

The authorities should make a complete inspection of cookware and release the results so that consumers know what to buy, Liu said.

"The fines in China are too small to punish the companies who make substandard products, which is a kind of connivance or even encouragement," Liu noted.