Food safety spawns public concern in China

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GMW: Food safety spawns public concern in China

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Wed, 13 Apr 2005 09:37:44 +0100

 

 

 

 

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The severe food safety problems in China, described in the broad

ranging article below, are not only a threat to Chinese consumers, who

clearly are increasingly concerned about GM contamination, but to all

those

receiving imports from China.

 

EXCERPT: " A poll on the sina.com, one of China's portal websites, shows

that nearly 82 per cent of the 6,937 respondents are against the

promotion of

transgenic rice, which might be planted in large areas for commercial

purposes this year. "

 

" In a survey carried out in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2004, 62

per cent of the 600 respondents know about GM foods and 57 per cent

said they would not buy it - a big leap from 52 per cent and 40 per cent

in 2003, respectively. "

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Food safety spawns public concern

China Daily, 26 March 2005

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/26/content_428253.htm

 

Xi Ping, a Shanghai resident, had already consumed a dozen bottles of a

name-brand pickle product when he learned from a television report that

his favourite food contains Sudan I, a carcinogenic dye used mainly to

colour shoe polish and other waxes.

 

" I have been taking poison without even knowing it, " he said, bitterly.

" I had wondered how the vegetables could be made so delicious

looking...now I know. And I learned it's dangerous. "

 

In no way is Xi's story exceptional. In recent weeks, Sudan I has been

found in a variety of foods sold in a dozen Chinese provinces and

municipalities, including Beijing, the nation's capital.

 

The dye is used as an additive not only in tomato paste and ketchup,

but also in chili sauce, pepper oil and pickles that are prepared with

traditional methods. Fast food outlets, including some KFC branches, have

used the dye-tainted products.

 

The latest discovery of Sudan I in foods follows another food-related

tragedy that shocked the nation and is still fresh in people's minds.

Thirteen infants died of malnutrition and 171 fell ill in Fuyang, East

China's Anhui Province, after being fed with a blend of infant formula

that contained mainly starch and little dried milk.

 

The case was cracked last May. Several local officials were disciplined

for dereliction of duty or inaction. Some heartless merchants were

jailed

for producing or selling the so-called " powdered milk. "

 

About the same time, 40 people in Guangdong Province were hospitalized

after drinking liquor adulterated with industrial alcohol. Fourteen

died

in that incident.

 

As a deputy to the National the People's Congress (NPC), China's top

legislature, Zhang Wenrong, a businessman in Shanghai, spent nearly six

months beginning last June in an investigation of foods sold in 221

local markets.

 

Poor food quality

 

In a 64-page report on his findings, he listed 150 " questionable "

foods: sleeve-fish preserved in formalin, bamboo shoots kept fresh with

industrial sulfur, cuttlefish dyed with ink, and moldy oranges covered

with a coating of paraffin.

 

On the eve of World Consumer Rights Day, March 15, the State

Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) reported that in the

past year, it

had handled 110,000 cases concerning food safety. In the process, it

discovered 920 million yuan (US$111 million) worth of counterfeit and

substandard goods.

 

The State Quality and Quarantine Administration (SQQA) tested 2,000

food samples the same year and found one-fifth of them were below the

State-

imposed quality standards.

 

Many Chinese are growing increasingly nervous. Like Xi Ping, the man in

Shanghai who has stopped eating pickles, they are changing their eating

habits.

 

He Jiguo, a professor with the Food School of the China Agricultural

University in Beijing, views the phenomenon from two perspectives.

 

" On the one hand, " he said, " people are more concerned than ever with

the quality of what they eat, in particular with whether foods are safe.

Gone are those days when they ate simply in order to be full. "

 

" On the other hand, " he continued, " legislation on food must be

improved. " The professor cited a report published by the SQQA recently

to back

up his views.

 

In 2004, according to the report, the SQQA surveyed a million producers

of rice, wheat flour, cooking oil, soy sauce and vinegar products. Of

these, 79.25 per cent were family businesses with fewer than 10 workers

each. Nearly 16 per cent of them were producing without a licence, and

quality control and safety inspections were void in 64 per cent of

them.

 

Ji Zhanling, an official in charge of food hygiene in canteen cars

under the Shijiazhuang Railway Bureau, went further to cite what he called

" loopholes " in current food legislation.

 

He classified " problem " food and drinks into three kinds: those below

the hygiene standards, those below the proper nutrition standards and

dangerous types like adulterated liquors and wines.

 

" The existing laws, like the Food Hygiene Law and the Criminal Law,

just focus on whether food is clean and innocuous, " he said. " Provisions

on

nutrition values and safety, if any, are vague. "

 

Shi Sizhen is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese

People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political

advisory

body.

 

She submitted two proposals to this year's annual session of the CPPCC

National Committee in mid-March, demanding improvements in law

enforcement efforts to ensure food safety.

 

" In not a few cases, " she noted, " a guy may make 1 million yuan

(US$120,900) by producing or marketing substandard or adulterated foods.

 

" When the wrongdoing is exposed, all the guy needs to do is to pay a

fine of a few thousand yuan or, in some cases, may have his business

licence

revoked. The guy will remain free provided no deaths have been caused.

That's wrong. "

 

Governmental role defined

 

Shi proposed that laws specify, in explicit language, the

responsibilities of governments for food oversight, obliging agencies

to monitor the

entire process of food production and distribution, from purchases of

raw and processed materials to the delivery of finished products.

 

China's highest authorities have responded to such proposals by listing

a food safety law on the lawmaking agenda of the NPC. If all goes well,

the

law should come out by the end of this year, covering the

responsibilities of food producers, establishment of food safety

monitoring systems,

government supervision over food production and

distribution, as well as food quality control.

 

In a related development, people have expressed concern with

genetically-modified (GM) foods.

 

Also on the eve of this year's World Consumer Rights Day, a report was

released by Green Peace, a world non-profit organization for

environmental protection, noting that several types of food sold in

China's

supermarkets contain GM ingredients, like the Ritz biscuits and

Campbell's

soups.

 

Ma Tianjie, a Green Peace campaigner, was outraged at the double

standards of these companies, which are committed not to using

genetically

modified ingredients in foods sold in Europe.

 

Ma notes that consumers are becoming more aware and cautious of such

foods. In a survey carried out in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in

2004, 62 per cent of the 600 respondents know about GM foods and 57 per

cent said they would not buy it - a big leap from 52 per cent and 40 per

cent in 2003, respectively.

 

A poll on the sina.com, one of China's portal websites, shows that

nearly 82 per cent of the 6,937 respondents are against the promotion of

transgenic rice, which might be planted in large areas for commercial

purposes this year.

 

Some experts insist that transgenic foods are harmless, but Ma takes it

with a grain of salt. " Genetically modified food crops came into being

not long ago, and it is still early to say whether transgenic foods are

safe or harmful, " he said.

 

 

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