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July 2007
The Chinese government says it is
strengthening its food safety regulations after discoveries of tainted
food and toothpaste have resulted in bans of Chinese products in many
countries.
Addressing a conference of the State Council on Wednesday, Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao said the issue of product quality and food safety is "closely
linked with people's lives, producers' reputations and the nation's
image," according to the official state news agency Xinhua.
"The nation must establish a rigorous network to realize effective
supervision over processing, packaging, delivering and sale of products
and step up the establishment of national standard systems to tally with
international standards," Wen said.
The conference approved a draft special regulation on the supervision of
food safety which requires intensified controls over food producers and
distributors, increased responsibilities and obligations on the part of
the government and more serious punishment for illegal activities.
The draft would be amended and later formally published by the State
Council, China's highest executive and administrative body.
Wen also said China would publicize periodic reports on product
information and recall defective products.
Meanwhile, China would strengthen cooperation with foreign countries in
handling the issue and improve law enforcement on product quality
problems, he said, adding that the State Council will form a product
quality and food safety group to help resolve disputes.
Recent bans on products from China include a U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, FDA, prohibition earlier this month on 30 brands of
toothpaste from six manufacturers that were found to contain diethylene
glycol, a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
The agency is warning consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled
as made in China and, through an import alert, is stopping all suspect
toothpaste from entering the United States.
In June, the United States began detaining all farm-raised catfish, basa,
shrimp, dace and eel from China at the border until the shipments are
proven free of residues from drugs not approved for use in U.S. fish
farms.
An international melamine scare started March 16 when Ontario-based pet
food maker Menu Foods recalled hundreds of its wet food products following
a rash of animal sickness and deaths. The pet foods were found to be
contaminated with melamine, an industrial plastic.
In April, China's quality control watchdog said two Chinese companies
exported melamine-contaminated products. The managers from both companies
were arrested, but the contaminant was later found in fish feed used in
aquaculture.
In Europe, a ban imposed on Chinese honey earlier this year has cost China
billions of dollars in trade and Chinese officials say it is harming the
economy of rural areas that rely on international sales of their products.
European Union inspectors concerned about the use of antibiotics and
hormone growth promoters in Chinese food products recommended the ban.
Last week, the Philippines' Bureau of Foods and Drugs banned the
distribution and sale of four Chinese food products, including candies and
biscuits when tests revealed harmful substances, such as formaldehyde in
the foods.
The agency began testing foods after China shut down 180 food factories
found to have breached food safety regulations by mixing formaldehyde into
products.
In June, the Chinese government required the food factory closures after
inspectors found industrial chemicals in products ranging from sweets to
seafood, state media said.
The closures came during a crackdown on shoddy and dangerous products, the
state-run "China Daily" newspaper reported. Formaldehyde, illegal dyes and
industrial wax had been found in sweets, pickles, crackers and seafood.
"These are not isolated cases," Han Yi, of the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine told the newspaper.
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