(Yicai) March 18 -- East Buy Holding, the livestream e-commerce unit of China's New Oriental Education and Technology Group, has apologized for selling substandard food products and is  offering full refunds and even triple compensation.

On March 15, which was World Consumer Rights Day, Anhui Donghui Food Technology was exposed for using untreated lymphatic meat and thyroid glands, which are not classified as food ingredients, in ready meals. The day after, an influencer said on Weibo that East Buy had sold these products during livestreams.

East Buy did sell such products and will prioritize any refunds, the Beijing-based firm said on Weibo today. An internal company investigation revealed that the last related sale on the platform was on Oct. 29, it added.

If the merchant implicated cannot provide authoritative proof of product safety, East Buy will offer triple compensation to consumers on top of a full refund, it pointed out, adding that the company will also hold the merchant and producer accountable.

East Buy said it is still a challenge for its livestream e-commerce platform to delve deeply into the specific production and raw material processes of products. The company plans to upgrade its standards and random inspections this year to further enhance the approval bar for merchants, it noted.

East Buy's revenue jumped 34 percent to CNY2.8 billion (USD390 million) in the six months ended Nov. 30 from a year earlier, according to its earnings report released on Jan. 24. Income from its self-operated products and live e-commerce surged 37 percent, with that from the former totaling CNY1.9 billion and the number of such products exceeding 260.

Shares of East Buy [HKG: 1797] ended down 1.7 percent at HKD23.50 (USD3) in Hong Kong today, after earlier falling by as much as 5.4 percent.

Editor: Martin Kadiev