Source: CCTV.com

03-02-2009 11:22

Special Report:   Food & Drug Safety in China

Half a year after the Sanlu milk powder scandal, China's top legislative body has approved a new Food Safety Law. The law provides a legal basis for the government to strengthen food safety controls from the production line to the dinner table. The revised legislation is intended to prevent any more food scandals in the future.

Half a year after the Sanlu milk powder scandal, China's  top legislative body has approved a new Food Safety Law.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress gave the green light to the hotly-debated draft law on the last day of a four-day legislative session.

Passed by 158 votes to 7, the law stipulates that the State Council will set up a food safety commission to oversee the entire food monitoring system. The departments of health, agriculture, quality supervision, industry and commerce will each shoulder different responsibilities. The law also addresses the issue of consequences for offenders.

Xin Chunying, deputy director of Legislative Affairs Comm., NPC Standing Comm., says, "food safety is very special because we have no leeway to make possible mistakes. That means if we find a product unsafe after we put it into operation, there will be serious consequences. So the new food safety law has raised supervision and evaluation to a very important place."

The draft of the revised regulation had been revised several times since it was first submitted to the NPC Standing Committee in December 2007.

It was initially thought lawmakers would approve it last October, but the voting was postponed for further revisions following the tainted dairy products scandal in September.

The NPC Standing Committee said although China had long established food quality control systems in place, many loopholes had emerged over the past few years.

For example, there were previously two national food standards in the country - one for product quality and another for food hygiene. But the two standards led to some confusion and contradictions in safety standards. The new law is expected to clear up this problem.

Chen Junshi, Hygiene Standard Comm. of Ministry of Health, says, "the previous two national food safety standards were set by two different sectors.

Therefore, some criteria contradicted each other. For example, lead standards are set at different levels for the same food. This caused a lot of trouble and confusion for both companies and consumers. The newly approved food safety law regulates the food standards system, and will serve as the sole and compulsory standard for food safety in China."

Another branch of the law states that celebrities who advertise food products will share liability with food producers in the event that products are found to be unsafe.

It's intended to make organizations and individuals take more responsibility for the products they advertise, though a more detailed explanation of this area is expected in the future.

The new law is due to take effect on June 1st.

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Editor:Qin Yongjing