A court in Shandong province ruled on Wednesday that a resident who had been given a paltry reward from local authorities after reporting a food safety violation is entitled to 10,000 times more than he received.

An intermediate people’s court in the provincial capital of Jinan said that the whistleblower, surnamed Jia, should receive 2,000 yuan ($290) for exposing a supermarket selling expired bread in March 2017. Shandong’s food and drug administration had slapped the store with a 50,000 yuan fine but given Jia a cash reward of just 0.2 yuan, or about 3 cents. In November the same year, Jia sued the administration for a bigger payout.

Food safety has become a top priority for local governments following several high-profile blows to consumer confidence. In April 2014, Beijing set a maximum reward of 300,000 yuan for reporting “illegal food and drugs,” while Shanghai paid out a total of 2.4 million yuan to food and safety whistleblowers between January 2012 and March 2016 — the most recent data available. (Image: VCG)