Life time in prison for unsafe food
China unveiled a new draft food safety law on Sunday that provides for penalties of up to life imprisonment for people responsible for the production of substandard food.
The National People’s Congress, or parliament, is seeking public comments on
the draft until May 20, the official Xinhua news agency said.
It did not
give a timeframe for the law’s approval, but most drafts that reach the stage of
seeking public comments generally pass with few changes to them.
Lesser
violations of the law could incur fines, confiscation of income from sales of
substandard products, or revocation of licenses, Xinhua said.
China has
been hit by a series of food safety problems in the past few years, coming into
the global spotlight last year through scandals over the quality of exported
toothpaste, pet food and fish.
Domestic fears about food safety grew in
2004, when at least 13 babies died of malnutrition in Anhui province, in the
east of the country, after they were fed fake milk powder with no nutritional
value.
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