China’s food environmental sector is suffering “with high risk and contradictions” the Ministry of Health said following implementing new food-safety laws. (The Straits Times) New Food-Safety laws were put into place following melamine poisoning of milk in China. China’s slow regulatory practices have been blamed for recurring problems in China’s food environment.
The most common health problem from melamine poisoning is kidney stones; this industrial compound killed at least six. The lack of market regulations in China’s food environmental sector to address this matter is shocking considering China’s globalization. The World Health Organization stated that “China’s food safety system was disjointed and said poor communications between ministries and agencies may have prolonged the melamine poisonings.” (The Straits Times)
The lack of market regulations that were second to economic reform affected the governing laws that were in place. The Chinese economy has outgrown its laws and ability to enforce them regularly so much so that the balance of nature is set off course with the poisonings. China as an immediate response sentenced three to death and three to reduced sentences.
The Chinese government approach to regulating the food environmental sector after the problem is not protecting Chinese or the global markets. The Chinese government has tried to regulate, but needs to streamline and increase agricultural agents in the field for monitoring. The key to reducing problems is establishing high costs for violation, early prevention, and informing farms of dangers early. China did react vehemently by sentencing three people to death for selling tainted milk. This was an effort to take serious action quickly that would abruptly end the poisoning. Considering the disjointed enforcement effort, China’s neglect of nature and man, in its rush to be economically reformed, has caused China’s basic needs to suffer.
China's Food Security Grim - The Straits Times
BEIJING - CHINA said on Monday food security remains 'grim' after a series of health scandals, the most recent being last year's tainted milk formula which killed at least six toddlers and made almost 300,000 sick.
A new food-safety law, approved on Saturday in an accelerated process since the milk scandal came to light in September, attempts to fix a fragmentary regulatory system which officials blame for recurring problems.
'At present, China's food-security situation remains grim with high risks and contradictions,' the Ministry of Health said in documents handed to reporters on Monday.
The food-safety law, which takes effect on June 1, sets quality and safety standards for products and lays out a regulatory system as well as a risk-monitoring system.
China approved in principle a new food-safety law in October 2007 following scandals involving unsafe toothpaste, seafood and pet food, among other products.
Nonetheless, the children developed kidney stones after melamine, an industrial compound used in making plastics and fertilizer, was added to milk and other
products to cheat protein tests, prompting Chinese-made products to be stripped from shelves worldwide.
A month later, the World Health Organization’s food safety chief, Jorgen Schlundt, called China's food-safety system 'disjointed' and said poor communications between ministries and agencies may have prolonged the melamine poisonings.
China sentenced two people to death in January for producing or selling milk adulterated with melamine, and jailed the chairwoman of now bankrupt dairy producer Sanlu Group for life, but the fall-out from the scandal continues.
A group of 54 people who say their children developed kidney stones and other illnesses after drinking melamine-adulterated milk are suing Qingdao Shengyuan Dairy Co Ltd for 8 million yuan (S$1.8 million) in damages, Li Jinglin, their lawyer, told Reuters on Monday.
It was unclear whether the court in the eastern city of Qingdao would accept the case. Calls placed to the court could not be connected. -- REUTERS
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kim, it is so sad to read that article. In fact, when browsing the RSS feeds searching for my own article to write on, I just saw that Coca Cola is going to build a huge testing and processing facility in China. I hope they plan on having people staffed who are capable of handling the demands and regulations of production so something like the milk poisoning doesn't happen again. Coke is on so much more of a global scale than that one dairy company. Sheesh. In my article I blogged the Premier stated that he wasn't going to use a stimulus package to pick up trash like the Western countries do but to further economic growth. That pretty much answers every question in a nutshell huh?
ReplyDelete