Beijing's legislature yesterday urged the municipal government
to overhaul the city's food safety system, particularly to avoid
any scandals during the upcoming Olympic Games.
The capital should improve supervision of food safety and crack
down on small agricultural-products markets, restaurants and
family-run food processing mills, Lin Wenyi, deputy director of the
Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, said
at the committee's 37th session yesterday.
She noted that sanitary conditions at such businesses were
worrying.
Lin said members of the Standing Committee had identified food
safety "loopholes" while inspecting food health and safety
regulations in the city this year.
"We found many small restaurants were operating without legal
licenses. They were clustered in the transitional area between the
city and its suburbs," she said.
"Their sanitary situation is extremely poor, which poses severe
food security hazards."
The city clamped down more than 10,000 small food processors and
unlicensed restaurants last year, Lin said.
She added that in addition to ensuring food safety in the
Olympic Village and at sports venues, more efforts should be made
to monitor catering businesses in the city's outskirts, tourist
resorts, hotels and transportation hubs.
The municipal government yesterday said it would strengthen the
supervision for the city's catering business by increasing routine
patrol and putting the breakfast market under scrutiny.
The city is also mulling its first special law on food safety,
which lays out a series of tougher measures to strengthen
supervision and deter any activity that could jeopardize food
safety.
Businesses could face fines of as much as 500,000 yuan ($66,000)
and have their licenses revoked if they are found using substandard
raw materials or inedible additives, according to the regulation,
which was tabled for discussion at the session yesterday.
The regulation also plans to grant local food safety supervision
departments the power to order food sellers and manufacturers to
recall goods that found to be unsafe. Businesses could be fined as
much as 500,000 yuan and lose their licenses if they refuse to do
so.
Individuals found criminally liable for food safety violations
could face a lifetime ban from engaging in food-related
businesses.
Zhang Zhikuan, director of the food safety supervision and
coordination office of the Beijing municipal government, said the
public unanimously approved of "harsher" punishments for activities
that affect food safety.
(China Daily July 25, 2007)