Fuss about frozen meat report shows public's concern about food safety

A warehouse storing smuggled frozen meat has been seized in Shenzhou, South China's Guangdong province in this file photo. Photo taken on April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC]

A Xinhua news report two weeks ago, about the customs in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region seizing frozen meat up to 40 years old that was smuggled into the country, has once again focused public attention on food safety. However, the Guangxi customs said they had not released such news and the story was "wholly fabricated by the media". Comments:

Whether the story is true or not, the fact that it has been accepted as true reflects people's grave concerns about food safety. Despite the great efforts the authorities claim to have made in cracking down on crimes concerning food safety, the fact is ordinary residents are still not convinced about the safety of the food on their dining tables. Food safety departments need to do a better job to win back public trust.

Beijing News, July 11

If the story about 40-year-old frozen meat is false, it means the food safety supervisors have failed in their duty, because they allowed the false news to spread for two weeks and cause widespread panic without doing anything. We live in the Internet age but it seems that our food safety watchdogs continue to think in an old-fashioned way and do not realize it is their responsibility to publish timely information. If they could have conducted investigations about the incident in a timely manner and released news about the fact, such an farce would not have happened.

gmw.cn, July 11

The fact that the unconfirmed news made the headlines for two weeks points to the concerns the public have about food safety. There is no denying that people do not trust the food they eat. So whenever news about any food hazard is reported, they would prefer to believe it even if there is not enough evidence to support the report. If the problem of food safety remains unsolved, it will be hard for the government to win public trust, and it will very easy for a rumor about food safety to be taken as the truth, which will further hurt the credibility of the government.

eastday.com, July 11

The case of the 40-year-old frozen meat is just the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of tons of frozen meat are smuggled into China each year, and this food, being made at whatever date, constitutes the biggest threat to our health. In addition, it is always the reporters who first discover some food hazards and report them before the food watchdogs take action against the criminals who are trafficking and producing unsafe food. This has actually raised a question of how the food safety watchdogs should do a better job to uncover unsafe food before it is made and sold in the market. This is a serious problem that remains to be solved.

Beijing Youth Daily, quoting an anonymous nutrition expert, July 11