Another food safety scandal in China.

Last month Chinese agricultural authorities of Wuhan City in Hubei Province announced they had destroyed 3.5 tons of yard-long beans. The beans, produced in Hainan province, were found to contain the highly toxic and banned pesticide, isocarbophos.

Since then, public anger has emerged across China over officials who would rather cover up the scandal.

Officials from Sanya, the city where the contaminated beans came from, publicly criticized Wuhan authorities for violating “unspoken rules” among government officials—that scandals should be communicated internally before being publicized. One Sanya official also accused his Wuhan counterparts of lacking “team spirit” and "causing them to lose face."

These comments from Sanya authorities have outraged the public. Many are dismayed that public safety is being put at risk so that officials can be spared losing face. Others say the so-called “unspoken rules” to cover up scandals by Chinese communist officials are more problematic than the toxins being added to food and other products.