Authorities have removed 16,000 tons of grain from a storage depot in Northeast China amid allegations that supervisors there swapped out fresh for expired grain and pocketed the price difference, State-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported over the weekend.

The probe into the depot in Jilin Province come on the heels of CCTV's news reporting several grain depots in Jilin and neighboring Liaoning provinces were accused of substituting expired grains for new. Those depots are affiliated with China Grain Reserves Corporation (Sinograin), the State-run grain storage and transportation corporation founded in 2000.

Authorities should immediately launch investigations into the grain depots in question, according to a public announcement published on Sinograin's website on Friday.

Local grain suppliers could gain 700 yuan ($112.98) per ton selling new grains and replacing them with expired ones, a practice that is well known in the industry, according to the news report. 

The targeted grain depots were accused of violating national grain reserve rules, which were released jointly by the State Administration of Grain (SAG), the Ministry of Finance and the Agriculture of Development Bank of China in December 2001.

The depots located in the north of the Yangtze River should not store grains more than three years in order to meet national grain quality standards, according to the rules published on the SAG's website.

However, some suppliers in Jilin chose expired grains in order to gain more profits when they were asked to replace the grains stored more than three years, according to CCTV. 

Sinograin, along with local authorities, are currently probing other grain depots and the result of the investigation is expected to be published before Tuesday, according to a post on CCTV's microblog published Saturday.