China rolls out food safety campaigns
China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said today it has launched a series of campaigns to deter illegal activities in the food sector in the wake of several notorious food safety scandals that have shocked the nation.
The campaigns mainly target excessive pesticide residue in vegetables, toxic clenbuterol in pig feed, illegal additives in dairy products, substandard veterinary medicine, banned additives in aquatic products and fake agricultural materials, according to a statement posted on the MOA website.
The ministry said it will step up supervision over production and supply chains to prevent unsafe products from entering the market.
Those found violating the regulations will be severely punished, the statement said.
According to a monitoring survey conducted by the MOA in 141 major cities and farm produce areas, the qualification rate of vegetables, animal products and aquatic products stayed at the high levels of 97.1%, 99.8%, 97.8%, respectively.
Still doubts
But public concerns regarding food safety continue to grow as more scandals are made public. It will be a difficult task for the government to turn back the illegal practices. Traders and manufacturers prefer profit above people and food safety.
The latest such cases included steamed buns dyed with unidentified chemicals and the use of the fat-burning addictive clenbuterol in pork.
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