Several news media recently reported that a small village of Hetian, Xinjiang, gathered for an iftar meal, about 150 people were sickened at once by contaminated vinegar which appears to be due to ethylene glycol, 11 people have died including 6 children. Besides, a couple of workers in Beijing were poisoned because of improperly cooked bean. Theses food safety crisis drew great attention of public and international media, Associated Press, Australian Press, Agence France Presse, etc had reported the news.
The poisoning appears to be due to the vinegar that had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze. According to news spokesman，the investigator haven’t yet been able to say whether barrels used to contain antifreeze out of ignorance, making it a problem of accidental contamination, or deliberately by an unscrupulous producer seeking to gain profit by cutting corners.
Another vinegar scandal happened in Aug.was “blended” vinegar, which disclosured the hidden rules of “aged” vinegar: 95% of its highly regarded “aged” vinegar was dosed with industrial acid in order to cut fermentation time. And those followed scandals “the meat glowed in the dark”; “the tainted buns”; “the exploding watermelons”; “the toxic bean sprouts”; “the rice contaminated with heavy metals”;” the mushrooms imbued with sulfur”; and “the Bodybuilding pig”. All those food safety crisis forced the government to list a dope-free restaurant guide before Swimming World Championships in Shanghai in July,in order to insure that athletes from all over the world could eat safe food in Shanghai.
Three years ago the melamine-in-milk scandal made 300,000 children sick and two years ago China passed its first-ever food safety law in response.But the high frequency foodborne problem outbreaks never stop. The government cracked down, closing almost 5,000 food-producing businesses and arresting 2,000 people, but a needlessly complex bureaucracy and ferocious determination to turn a profit mean the food safety problems will keep coming. USDA warned organic distributors and processors to be aware of organic fraud from China on 31st, Auy, saying that organic certificate from China constitutes a violation of mendacity, fraudulent label, non-organic products as organic, etc.
Nowadays, food safety is far beyond traditional food Hygiene or food contamination, it’s not only management but also technical issue, it’s not only economic but also political affair. Food safety problem has drawn wide attention from public, it needs every person to take his responsibility, and more efficient market control and market access, to keep ordinary people’s food supply healthy, eliminate industry abuses, reestablish national brand fame. All these measures are hopefully to build up export internationally confidence, to build up a food safety power peer with our country’s economic status.
Commented by Hui Li, Agriculture and Biology School, SJTU