The official Xinhua news agency was cited as saying Saturday that ordinary Chinese are refusing to believe government claims that a recent media report on cardboard-filled buns was a hoax aimed at hyping the nation’s food safety woes, and that the government’s assertion that the televised report was bogus is being viewed as an attempt by authorities to stem the bad publicity over a series of recent food safety scandals that have caused anger in China and abroad.

Xinhua quoted Chen Huiqin, a retired Shanghai middle school teacher, as saying, "I guess government departments must be hoping to reduce the negative impact on the public by declaring the TV news report a hoax."

A cab driver, surnamed Liu, was cited as saying he could not believe the investigative news report aired by Beijing TV on July 8 was a fabrication, adding, "It’s not just me, most of my customers didn’t believe it was a hoax either."