4-month campaign to ensure food safety launched

A four-month nationwide campaign will begin tomorrow to ensure all food products are free of non-edible substances and excessive levels of additives¹, the government said yesterday.

The move comes after melamine-contaminated baby milk food caused the death of six infants and left about 290,000 with urinary tract² ailments³, including kidney stones.

The government is also working on a compensation package for the tainted⁴ milk victims, an official said.

"The tainted-milk scandal shows illegal production of food products and the use of non-food substances are not isolated⁵ incidents. Instead, they are quite typical of the industry," Vice-Minister of Health Chen Xiaohong said during a national teleconference in Beijing.

"If these problems are not solved, food scares are likely to recur⁶."

The campaign, to be jointly⁷ conducted by nine central government departments, is aimed at cleansing⁸ and regulating the market, Chen said, and firms using excessive food additives will be hauled up.

The Ministry⁹ of Health said the campaign would be divided into three phases:

From tomorrow to January 10, companies will be asked to conduct self-examination and correction.

From January 11 to March 10, law enforcement officers will raid high-risk food producers or regions, and intensify¹⁰ random¹¹ checks on markets.

From March 11 to April 10, the focus will be on illegal food-additive producers and cutting off the supply of high-risk non-food substances.

Meat, dairy, brewery¹² and other products rich in protein are high-risk food products, Pu Changcheng, deputy director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision¹³, Inspection¹⁴ and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said at the conference.

Illegal substances found in food products such as Sudan Red and Malachite Green are considered high-risk substances and demand special attention during checks.

"But quality control officials should pay attention to new illegal substances appearing in food products, too, and submit timely reports. Recurrence¹⁵ of cases like the melamine contamination must be prevented," Pu said.

Yang Xueshan, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said the campaign would help cleanse¹⁶ the market of illegal producers of food additives.

"Most food additives are produced by small units, and the campaign is expected to wipe out those with poor management and equipment."

Yang said companies misusing¹⁷ food additives face closure if they don't streamline¹⁸ their production or fail quality control tests.

The China Food Additives and Ingredients Association has approved about 2,000 food additives. Association figures show about 2,000 companies produced 5.24 million tons of such products last year. And more than 1,000 companies deal with such additives.

On the sidelines of the conference, senior officials said the government has formed a team to handle the compensation issue in the contaminated-milk case. The products of dairy giant Sanlu are blamed for the maximum number of infant deaths and ailments.

"The team consists of officials of several central government departments and is led by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce," Chen said.

Pu confirmed the formation of the team, and said the AQSIQ is part of it. "For sure, there will be compensation for victims in the Sanlu case."

Questions:

1. In how many phases will the food safety campaign be conducted?

2. Pu Changcheng says what kinds of foods are high risks?

3. Name two illegal food substances.

Answers:

1. Three.

2. Meat, dairy, brewery and foods high in protein.

3. Sudan Red and Malachite Green.