Following a string of nationwide food problems in recent months,
the State Council has vowed to redouble efforts in ensuring food
safety.
"Food safety is related to people's health and lives and has a
bearing on sound economic development and social stability,"
according to a statement from a State Council executive meeting in
Beijing. Premier Wen Jiabao presided over the Wednesday
meeting.
Despite the decline in the number of cases related to fake and
shoddy foods, the statement indicated, problems remain rampant in
the market and require more conscientious corrective measures.
The council heard a report from the State Food and Drug
Administration, but details of the report were not immediately
available.
However, a Ministry of Health source said on Wednesday that food
poisoning sickened 4,700 people in the second quarter of this year,
a jump of 188.5 percent quarter-on-quarter. The number of deaths
from climbed 64.4 percent, to 97.
The most notorious case involved substandard infants' milk
powder sold in Fuyang, Anhui
Province, which caused the death of a dozen babies.
The case, reported in April, drew nationwide attention to food
quality and safety problems.
Reiterating the central authorities' commitment to food safety,
the State Council said that various agencies have been rectifying
matters by eliminating illegal activities such as counterfeiting
and making inferior food products.
The council appealed for greater efforts to improve industrial
safety and standardization in the food sector.
In addition to shutting down food producers that fail to meet
safety standards, substandard products should be denied access to
markets. Meanwhile, a unified safety and quality regime should be
implemented for agricultural products, preventing pollution at the
source.
The meeting also called for a crackdown on major criminal cases
regarding food safety and improving the functions of supervisory
departments, grain associations and other intermediary bodies.
However, experts believe it is essential to increase penalties
drastically for those who ignore food safety statutes.
Professor Hu Xiaosong, of the China Agricultural
University, said existing penalties for those who churn out
problem food are far from costly when compared to the potential
profits.
For example, the 1995 Food Hygiene Law prescribes a meager
5,000-yuan (US$602) fine for food producers that fail to meet
cleanliness requirements
Operators of unlicensed food shops are fined up to five times
their estimated illegally earned income.
"In cases related to food safety, penalties imposed should be
severe enough to ruin a law-violating enterprise. . . . Ultimately,
they will all obey the laws and regulations," said Hu.
(China Daily July 22, 2004)