Chinese officials found over 500,000 food safety violations during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, according to a report published by the National People's Congress.

The report claimed that the food safety regulatory body conducted more than 15 million inspections in the first three quarters of 2016 and detected more than half a million lapses of serious food security issues.  

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Bi Jingquan, head of China Food and Drug Administration, said on Friday that "deep seated" issues continue to plague the food sector despite decades of significant progress.   

Bi added that some of the serious lapses found during inspections included false advertising, use of forged products and ingredients, and sale of contaminated food products.

Two severe cases of food lapses including use of industrial gelatine on food in Jilin province and high use of counterfeit and low-quality salts in Guizhou province were reported.

Over the years, China's food sector has witnessed a series of big food scandals. The impact has been so severe that big players such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's were forced to overhaul their businesses to minimize losses.

The first reported food security controversy erupted in 2008, when substantial numbers of restaurants were allegedly using recycled "gutter oil." In the same year, it was also discovered that baby formulas sold in the market contained lethal amounts of an industrial chemical called melamine.     

TagsChina Food Safety Issues, China Food and Drug Administration, china food scandal, china