The Beijing food safety authority has pledged to make greater
efforts in inspecting catering businesses and food processing
facilities across the city to ensure food safety.
Breakfast stands will be one of the key areas that will be
scrutinized and those stands that fail to meet hygienic and quality
control standards will be closed down, said a spokesman with the
Beijing Food Safety Office.
Wang Xiaojing, an official in charge of publicity with the
municipal department for industry and commerce, said her department
had listed catering ventures and breakfast stands as industries
posing high risks to food safety and would increase daily
inspections.
The city's law enforcement departments have concentrated efforts
in clamping down on caterers operating without permits.
The municipal department of commerce plans to select a group of
"role model" enterprises to help the entire catering trade to
improve the level of its management.
There are now more than 45,900 catering businesses, including
hotels, restaurants and franchises, in Beijing.
In the first six months of the year, the municipal hygienic
department carried out a specialized sanitation inspection of more
than 10,000 eating outlets and a group of small and medium-sized
enterprises were fined more than 4 million yuan.
According to Wang, the municipal department of industry and
commerce received 2,980 complaints about food problems from January
to June this year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 25 2007)
