China food safety drive to continue in 2010

 

 

China's top quality control official yesterday promised to push forward a food-safety campaign that nailed 5,654 unsafe food producers last year.

 

"As the general food safety situation remains grim in the country, we'll continue the overhaul of the food industry this year," said Wang Yong, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

 

Food safety has long been a problem haunting China, especially after several deadly cases, such as the tainted milk scandal in 2008 in which at least six babies were killed and about 300,000 were sickened.

 

Wang said the past year has been a "very difficult" time for quality inspectors across the country, indicating many consumers losing confidence in government supervision.

 

However, thanks to joint efforts, quality control officers last year revoked 6,045 food production licenses from 5,654 producers of unsafe food, he said.

 

A special crackdown against small food plants - which have been blamed by experts for the root of China's food safety problem - also discovered 43,000 unsafe cases, involving products worth RMB650 million (US$95 million).

 

Meanwhile, 706 food producers were deprived of export licenses last year. More than 99% of foodstuffs exported from China passed border quality checks, according to the AQSIQ.

 

China is undergoing dramatic economic and social changes, and some producers lack basic ethics, he said.

 

The top quality watchdog also has decided to build up a strong force at local levels in three to five years, in terms of the number of inspectors, equipment and infrastructure improvement.

 

However, the most important and effective measure to ensure product and food safety is to make producers fully understand their responsibility, Wang emphasized.

 

In addition, at least five government departments are involved with food safety at present, leading to overlapping of responsibilities and lax law enforcement, Wang said.