• Pictures show staff at Tongcheng Rice Noodle Factory with feet in noodles
  • One worker sleeps on top of noodles while others walk over them
  • Factory involved in hygiene scandal last year and promised to clean up
  • Owners could now face heavy fines or jail time for breaching regulations
By CHRIS PLEASANCE
PUBLISHED: 11:59 GMT, 11 June 2014

Diners across China have reacted with horror after covert pictures showing noodle factory workers sticking their bare feet in the foodstuff were released online.
One staff member at the factory in Dongguan City was even pictured taking a nap on piles of noodles before the snack was packed and sent off to customers.
The plant, called the Tongcheng Rice Noodle Factory, was involved in a similar hygiene scandal last year when owners promised to clean up their act.
Covert pictures taken at the Tongcheng Rice Noodle Factory in Dongguan City show workers putting their feet in piles of noodles, and even napping on top of the foodstuff before it is packed and sent to customers
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The same factory was involved in a similar hygiene scandal last year, but promised to clean up its act
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Pictures taken at the Tongcheng Rice Noodle Factory show workers putting their feet in piles of noodles (left and right), and even napping on top of the foodstuff (left image, centre)  before it is sent to customers
A spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration said: 'Undercover photographs taken in the rice products factory show plain clothes employees kicking around piles of noodles on the floor with their bare feet.Share
'They are trampling over them as they walk about and even laying down to take their afternoon naps before packaging them up and shipping them to stores.
'We will not tolerate such breaches of the health and hygiene laws.'
One of the online comments posted underneath the images read: 'It’s shocking and hard to believe these pictures.'
The same factory was involved in a similar hygiene scandal last year when owners promised to clean up their act. Bosses could now face heavy fines or jail sentences for a repeated breach
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The same factory was involved in a similar hygiene scandal last year when owners promised to clean up their act. Bosses could now face heavy fines or jail sentences for a repeated breach
Workers were pictured wading through piles of noodles with no shoes on and without wearing hairnets
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This is how workers at the noodle factory should appear
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Workers were pictured wading through piles of noodles with no shoes on and without wearing hairnets (pictured right, how workers at the factory should have been dressed)
'Let us call it stinky feet rice noodles forever,' said another, while a third added: 'It is disgusting to think we have eaten so much rice noodle before from this company. We will never eat them again!'
Dongguan Food and Drug Administration said the pictures were taken before the Chinese Spring Festival on January 31 and officials have shut it down while stringent health checks are carried out.
The operators face heavy fines and possible prison sentences for contravening basic codes of hygiene.
Authorities say the pictures were taken before January 31 and the factory has now been closed while stringent inspections are now carried out
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Authorities say the pictures were taken before January 31 and the factory has now been closed while stringent inspections are now carried out