Chinese authorities are investigating nearly 50 factories allegedly manufacturing fake versions of widely used food seasonings and sauces.
中国政府正在调查约50家制假工厂，据称他们制造假冒的、人们广泛使用的调味料和酱油等。
It comes after Beijing News reportedly uncovered the elaborate operation near the city of Tianjin.
这源于《新京报》对天津近郊的这些制假窝点的摸底爆料。
The factories were using unapproved ingredients like industrial salt in seasonings including soy sauce and vinegar, the paper said.
报道称，这些工厂使用像工业盐这样的国家未经许可的材料来制作豆酱、醋等调味料。
The products were labelled with brands including Maggi, Knorr, and Nestle.
这些造假产品最终被贴上美极、家乐和雀巢等大品牌的标签。
The seasonings, which include spices and chicken stock, are commonly used in Chinese cooking and can be widely found across Asia.
这些调味料，包括香料和鸡精等都是中国甚至整个亚洲都非常常用的。
China has been rocked by various food scandals in recent years, with tainted milk powder killing six babies in 2008 and making more than 300,000 children ill.
中国最近几年来陷入各种食品丑闻，2008年曾爆出毒牛奶致6名儿童死亡并造成超过30万儿童生病。
The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said in a statement on Monday evening that it had dispatched officers to Tianjin to investigate the claims.
中国食品药品监督管理局在周一晚上的一份声明里表示，他们已经派遣官员到天津去调查此事件。
The Beijing News report said a "fake food seasoning manufacturing hub" had grown unchecked for more than 10 years in the town of Duliu near Tianjin.
《新京报》报道称，“假冒食品调味料制作中心”在天津独留镇附近肆意发展10余年。
Nearly 50 small factories, operating in a residential area, had been churning out fake seasoning estimated to be worth up to a 100m yuan ($14.5m) per year.
差不多有50个小工厂一直在这个地区生产，现在假冒产品的年产值预计高达一亿元(1450万美元)。
Reporters and local police visited the factories last week, acting on a tip-off from a whistleblower.
据知情者举报，记者和当地警察上周前去探访了这些作坊。
Pictures and video taken at the scene show workers making and packaging the products in dirty sheds using homemade equipment like plastic drums and garden hoses.
现场拍摄的图片和视频显示，工人们正在一些简易肮脏的棚子里用一些类似塑料桶和软管之类的家用设备来制作和包装这些假冒产品。
The factories were said to have used industrial grade salt unsafe for human consumption. They also recycled by-products from other food manufacturers, and were seen freely using highly regulated ingredients like the artificial sweetener cyclamate.
这些作坊都在使用对人类不安全的工业盐，他们甚至还循环利用其他食品制造商的副产品， 随意添加人造糖精等被严格管控的原料。
Beijing News quoted Nestle’s China office as saying that its anti-counterfeit team was looking into the matter, and that "product experts will be helping law enforcement representatives in identifying suspicious products".
《新京报》援引雀巢中国官方的话称，他们的打假团队已经在着手这个事情，而且“食品专家也会在法律执行代表的帮助下去确认嫌疑商品”。
Chinese food brands such as Totole and Donggu, whose products were also faked, said they were either assisting investigations or conducting their own probes.
中国的太太乐和东古调味等食品企业的产品也被涉及到，他们也表态说，要么会协助调查，要么自己着手。
Totole added that it had known about the factories since 2007, and its anti-counterfeit team had conducted numerous crackdowns in Duliu, but had been unable to completely stamp them out.
太太乐说他们自从2007年开始就已经知道这些造假工坊了，他们的打假团队也在独留镇进行了很多次的清剿，但是一直都没有能够将这些作坊成功清除。
The sheer scale of the operation revealed in local media shocked a country that is no stranger to food scandals, prompting questions online.
由当地媒体所揭露出来的这么一个规模庞大的造假产业已经震惊整个中国，虽说中国对于食品丑闻已不陌生了，此事依然在网上引起激烈讨论。
"Shouldn’t the CFDA be the one that is punished? A whole village has been faking products for so many years. Can we still trust this department?" said one commenter on the CFDA’s Weibo page.
“中国食品药品监督管理局不应该被一起惩罚吗?整个村的人这么多年都在造假!我们还能够信任这个管理部门吗?”在中国食品药品监督管理局的微博留言处，有网友这么留言。
"How many people have been poisoned by these fake products? Seasoning impacts so many lives, this is no game!" said another user.
另外有用户留言：“有多少人已经被这些有毒产品毒害过了?调味料这么多年一直影响着我们的生活，这可不是儿戏呀!”
The Food and Drug Administration said in its statement that it would "thoroughly rectify the problem of fake food seasoning production, and present the results of our investigation to the public in a timely fashion".
中国食品药品监督管理局在一份陈述中声明，他们将“彻查假冒调味料”，并尽快将调查结果公布给大家。
In 2014, the Shanghai Husi Food Company, a meat supplier to fast food chains McDonalds and KFC in China, was found to be repackaging old meat.
2014年，麦当劳和肯德基的食品肉类供应商之一，上海福喜食品公司，就被爆出使用重新包装过的不新鲜的肉来以次充好。
The following year authorities seized 100,000 tonnes of smuggled meat, some of it more than 40 years old.
第二年，官方又截获了10万吨走私肉，其中一些肉已经被冷藏超过40年之久。
Last month Chinese media reported that food suppliers in the north-western city of Shanxi were treating mushrooms with hazardous chemicals to make them look whiter and fresher.
上个月中国媒体报道说中国山西西北部城市的食品供应商利用有毒化学品来处理蘑菇，使之看起来更加新鲜嫩白。
