Health

China Submits on Food Safety

Written by Gaurav Bhola, MSM, Managing Editor & Community Manager on July 30, 2007 2:37 pm EST

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Since the international food and health scare caused by imported Chinese goods, China has submitted to the global outcry. On July 25, Premier Wen Jiabao stated that complete attention would be given to food safety and product quality. China is renowned for producing substandard products with little emphasis on quality. The Chinese authorities for years have been apathetic to domestic concerns about lack of food and health quality standards, many illnesses and deaths over the years could have been prevented if the Chinese government would have been vigilant. A few years ago, in an Eastern province 13 babies died and many became ill after being fed fake milk powder.

Due to the stronghold of the communist regime and omnipresent corruption, there is a lack of accountability towards the general public. However, that is not the case in the international arena, especially when the public of developed countries such as the U.S. are affected. Any intense scrutiny, recalls, and rejection of Chinese exports can have negative consequences for China’s economic bottom line, as well as puncture a carefully crafted image of domestic communal harmony. Herein, substandard products can have repercussions for international trade and relations.

The efficacy of existing regulation and enforcement procedures have proved futile. The current regulatory system and overlapping local and national agencies are ineffective in supervision of product, medicine, health, and food issues. The enforcement of laws is feeble. Also, China is deficient in a culture that values compliance of legal norms, instead of following laws; much energy is placed on sidestepping them.

As the limelight shines on Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, so does it on this important subject. China has announced a five-year plan to deal with legal, enforcement, structural and general quality standards with immediate measures to be taken soon. In spite of the food safety issues, China has assured athletes, coaches, and officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics that only carefully monitored healthy food will be served. To its credit, China is now showing its public and the world that it is serious about tackling this problem.

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