The government Wednesday declared a four-month "special war"
against poor product quality?after a spate of safety concerns
over Chinese products worldwide.
Eight categories of products are involved: Pork, drugs,
agricultural products, processed food, catered food, import and
export products, and miscellaneous products related to public
health, such as toys and electric wires.
Twenty detailed targets to be met by the year-end have been
set.
For example, all food producers require mandatory licenses; all
pigs must be slaughtered at designated sites; all agricultural
products from wholesale markets in cities must be monitored; all
raw material bases for export products must be inspected; and all
restaurants and dining halls must hold safety certifications when
they purchase raw materials.
There are some prohibitive regulations as well. For instance,
five types of strong pesticide used in agricultural products are
banned; as well as selling diseased poultry, or putting harmful
additives into food.
"This is a special war designed to protect the safety and
interests of the general public, as well as a war meant to
safeguard the made-in-China label and China's image," Vice-Premier
Wu Yi said during a national teleconference
yesterday in Beijing.
It was Wu's first meeting on quality control after being
appointed head of a Cabinet-level panel on food safety and quality
control last week.
She acknowledged that despite the progress that had been made in
the past few years, the country did have some "deep-rooted"
problems regarding food and product quality.
The list includes a large number of small food plants with poor
equipment and management, excessive amount of drug residues, and
the use of fake materials. Poor supervision and overlapping
enforcement powers have to be addressed as well, according to
Wu.
She said it was essential to establish and develop "two chains,
one system and one network".
The chains refer to the supervision of the entire production
process of industrial and food products. The system is a product
recall and accountability system; the network refers to a
comprehensive quality monitoring system in every corner of
society.
"If successful, food safety and product quality in the country
will be lifted to a new stage," Wu said.
She also stressed zero tolerance toward violators, including
producers and vendors, and government officials who fail to perform
their duty.
The campaign is the latest by the government to improve product
quality.
The past month witnessed not only the setting up of a
Cabinet-level panel on food safety and product quality but also
many significant documents as well. Currently they include a
blacklist of illegal importers and exporters, a special regulation
on better quality supervision, and a White Paper on food
safety.
Despite safety concerns, the country's fast-rising exports show
that Chinese products remain popular, Assistant Minister of
Commerce Wang Chao told a press conference yesterday.
In the first half of this year, China exported US$546.7 billion
worth of products, up 27.6 percent over the same period of last
year.
"The growth shows that most importers, retailers and consumers
have a fair and understanding attitude toward Chinese products,"
Wang stated.
(China Daily August 24, 2007)
