中国开展食品安全运动

China launched the food safety campaign on Monday. A series of events will be held during the week, designed to raise awareness at a national level. Government departments and enterprises are joining together to take part in the drive.

It’s China’s fourth food safety campaign. Jointly organized by the State Council’s Food Safety Office, and nine other ministries, it’ll focus on corporate integrity.

Chen Xiaohong, vice Health Minister, said, "So far, we’ve established nearly 12 hundred food safety monitoring stations across the country. They cover 100 percent of provincial regions, 73 percent of all cities and 25 percent of counties. We’ve also set up eight national laboratories to monitor illegal food additives, fungal toxins, pesticide residue, veterinary drug residue and other harmful elements in food."

From June 12th to the 20th, the ministries of agriculture and commerce, the State Food and Drug Administration and many other government departments, will each hold various activities. They include exhibitions, production-line tours, lectures and on-line discussions. All are aimed at promoting food safety awareness among the public.

Hu Chao, Beijing, said, “China is undergoing a fast-growing industrialization. The other side of the coin is that food safety remains a major issue. Many policy makers are hoping that the campaign can attract more people to take part in food safety supervision. They believe that this will greatly contribute to the healthy development of China’s food industry.”

In recent years, there have been some high profile food scandals, making food safety one of China’s top priorities. The Ministry of Public Security last year waged a four-month crackdown on underground distributors of illegal food and agricultural products. Law enforcement authorities shut-down more than 5,000 groups involved in food safety crimes in 2011.

The government is also planning to streamline current food standards, improve risk monitoring and increase food safety regulations.

In February, the State Council issued a blueprint for quality-control development between 2011 and 2020. The document stresses the importance of improving the quality of Chinese products, as vital to the country’s sustainable development, public health and the nation’s image.