China faces tough fight to keep food safe. Peh Shing Hau 2 June 2011 China is now facing a ferocious battle against tainted food that harms the consumers. Notorious for numerous unsafe food products, these sectors include dairy products, edible oil, food additives and liquours. The root of this problem actually lies within the corruption of the food safety officials and that the penalty for producing tainted food is light. Fortunately, right now, the authorities have also stepped up and took action against the dodgy producers of tainted food, making the listing of food additives in foodstuff compulsory, raiding restaurants and factories constantly and banning the unsafe food products. It is true that China does have its own laws, however, the execution and implementation of these laws seems to be problematic. Scandals after scandals arise, but little is done to curb the problem except for fines. I believe that the emphasis should be put on investigations into each and every case. Those who flouted the laws should be dealt with accordingly. For instance, food safety watchdogs themselves can face criminal charges and be jailed for dereliction of duty to production and distribution of unsafe products. It is sad to see that so much corruption is taking place in China all for the sake of money. These culprits do not realize that this is actually ‘blood money’ in a sense that it actually kills and harm people. Food safety officials who take bribes from food producers to allow products to enter the market see unsafe food as a source of making money. These have made it difficult for the officials to crack cases of producers of tainted food. That is perhaps why the media rather than the food safety watch dogs have exposed most of such cases. It is such an irony. Furthermore, those who are aware of it choose either to keep mum or to ignore everything. Many do not have conscience. It indicates the lack of integrity with all the chaos and disasters caused. It is certainly about time China faces her tough fight to keep their food and products safe. It may take a long time with a long way due to the lack of enforcement and oversight, but I strongly believe that it can be accomplish. I am particularly put off by the melamine- tainted milk incident, which killed 6 children in 2008. Now, I am more outraged to learn that this melamine-tainted milk incidents continues to appear almost every month in scandals across the countries. Many children develop kidney stones and suffered poor health. The fact that they are innocent victims really pains me. Reading this article just reinforce how incorrigible some unscrupulous and greedy Chinese merchants are. I wish there is more the authorities can do to tighten supervision and combat unsafe food products.
Peh Shing Hau
2 June 2011
China is now facing a ferocious battle against tainted food that harms the consumers. Notorious for numerous unsafe food products, these sectors include dairy products, edible oil, food additives and liquours. The root of this problem actually lies within the corruption of the food safety officials and that the penalty for producing tainted food is light. Fortunately, right now, the authorities have also stepped up and took action against the dodgy producers of tainted food, making the listing of food additives in foodstuff compulsory, raiding restaurants and factories constantly and banning the unsafe food products.
It is true that China does have its own laws, however, the execution and implementation of these laws seems to be problematic. Scandals after scandals arise, but little is done to curb the problem except for fines.
I believe that the emphasis should be put on investigations into each and every case. Those who flouted the laws should be dealt with accordingly. For instance, food safety watchdogs themselves can face criminal charges and be jailed for dereliction of duty to production and distribution of unsafe products.
It is sad to see that so much corruption is taking place in China all for the sake of money. These culprits do not realize that this is actually ‘blood money’ in a sense that it actually kills and harm people. Food safety officials who take bribes from food producers to allow products to enter the market see unsafe food as a source of making money. These have made it difficult for the officials to crack cases of producers of tainted food. That is perhaps why the media rather than the food safety watch dogs have exposed most of such cases. It is such an irony.
Furthermore, those who are aware of it choose either to keep mum or to ignore everything. Many do not have conscience. It indicates the lack of integrity with all the chaos and disasters caused.
It is certainly about time China faces her tough fight to keep their food and products safe. It may take a long time with a long way due to the lack of enforcement and oversight, but I strongly believe that it can be accomplish.
I am particularly put off by the melamine- tainted milk incident, which killed 6 children in 2008. Now, I am more outraged to learn that this melamine-tainted milk incidents continues to appear almost every month in scandals across the countries. Many children develop kidney stones and suffered poor health. The fact that they are innocent victims really pains me. Reading this article just reinforce how incorrigible some unscrupulous and greedy Chinese merchants are. I wish there is more the authorities can do to tighten supervision and combat unsafe food products.