Jiangsu strives to ensure food safety
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-09-09 23:40

The provincial government is speeding up the construction of a system to monitor food safety and security.

Officials proposed measures to ensure food safety at a working conference on food security held on Monday in Nanjing, the provincial capital.

"Governments at all levels should be responsible for food security," said Liang Baohua, governor of the province.

He called for a food safety system to be built and implemented.

Governments and departments should carry out all kinds of examinations and supervision to guarantee food quality.

If there are food security accidents caused by officials' negligence, the departments and officials concerned will be investigated and have to shoulder responsibility.

Problems concerning the quality and security of food are becoming a major public concern, especially after some serious accidents have taken place, such as the fake milk powder outrage in Fuyang, East China's Anhui Province which killed 12 infants and injured hundreds of babies.

Xia pointed out that people are most worried about the security of grain, meat, vegetables, fruit, milk products, bean products, aquatic products and children's food.

"The management of enterprise has the first responsibility for food security accidents," emphasized Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

"Those who commit the crimes of producing fake or unsafe food should be given criminal penalties."

Xia Ming, head of the Jiangsu Provincial Quality Supervision Bureau, introduced the measures taken to establish the provincial food safety system.

The first step is to set up a food quality and security credit record of factories and enterprises.

Information collected from different kinds of examinations will be included in the record.

The second is to set up a system to evaluate food enterprises, which will take place on a regular basis.

Those who have got good credit evaluation will be praised, and those who produce fake commodities will be exposed.

Enterprises producing or selling food commodities harmful to public health will be put on a blacklist, and those who commit serious crimes will be prosecuted.

Li added that both the examination and evaluation should be mainly aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises,factories without licences and small workshops especially in counties and villages.

Statistics show that there are more than 300 legal food production enterprise groups in the country, besides, there are countless food processing factories and small workshops without licences.

"Food security accidents are usually caused by these factories," Li said.

For example, some workshops use industrial chemicals to process food.

Law enforcement departments will take severe measures against the illegal activities.

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