China: on the move to improve food safety

Beijing / CN. (gov) China would strengthen exchanges and cooperation with other countries to cope with the issue of food safety «in a responsible way», Premier Wen Jiabao said at a national work meeting in Beijing. China´s food quality was called into question both locally and globally, so the government has taken since the end of July some measures as follows:

• China and the United States will hold a vice-ministerial-level talk on food security and the two sides will sign a memorandum of understanding on food safety by the end of this year to enable the two countries to resolve food safety issues more effectively.
• The U.S. Health and Human Services officials will visit China to exchange views with Chinese officials on the U.S. detention of four categories of aquatic products (catfish, basa and dace, shrimp and eel) that were alleged to contain banned substances.
• China pledged on July 25 to provide regular and detailed information about potentially dangerous exports from China based on European complaints during the visit of Meglena Kuneva, the European commissioner for consumer protection.
• China has established bilateral mechanisms and multi-lateral mechanisms on food safety with its trade partners including the United States, the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
• A high-profile work team will be set up to supervise and coordinate product quality and food safety, while a special regulation was approved in principle on Wednesday by an executive meeting of the State Council, intending to impose severer penalties on perpetrators.
• The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture is going to complete a special campaign by the end of the year to stop the use of banned substances.
• China will paste the sign «CIQ» meaning «China Inspection and Quarantine» on the exterior packaging of China´s exported food from September 01 after they are inspected by the country´s quality control administration in order to prevent food produced by illegal exporters from entering the overseas markets.
• China has shut down the Taixing Glycerin Factory, the producer of «TD glycerin» containing the toxic diethylene glycol which is linked to dozens of deaths in Panama from tainted medicine, and two companies that exported tainted wheat and corn protein which ended up in pet food in the United States and led to a number of dog and cat deaths in North America.
• China banned the use of toxic diethylene glycol in toothpaste after a number of countries forbade the sale of toothpaste containing this chemical following the Panama tainted-medicine incident.
• China set up a food tracking and monitoring system for the 2008 Beijing Olympics to guarantee food safety during the games. «All the procedures involving Olympic food, including production, processing, packaging, storing and transporting, will be closely monitored», said Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
• Beijing will start a daily report mechanism on food safety, a test run for a food safety monitoring system designed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
• The Chinese capital´s food safety committee raised the maximum reward for people who report illegal food practices from 10.000 CNY to 50.000 CNY, to encourage the public´s involvement in improving food standards (Source).