By staff reporter QIAO TIANBI

FIVE days after the UK Food Standards Agency announced the recall of food contaminated with the carcinogenic dye Sudan Red I, China’s food safety authorities demanded a comprehensive examination of all domestically produced food. Evidence suggests that China’s Food Safety Administration acts in accordance with international practices, and has the ability to deal with emergencies. The “Sudan Red I” incident, however, has sparked skepticism among Chinese consumers, and a recent survey released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that less than 50 percent of those questioned have full confidence in foodstuffs, either Chinese or foreign.

Food Safety and China’s Realities

Although preparation of Chinese food is an art form around the world, the country did not fully solve its own food shortage problem until the 1990s. China’s food industry is gigantic, and is continuing to grow. In 2004 the industry generated income of RMB 1.6 trillion (US $193.4 billion), a 300 percent increase over 1997, and the figure for 2005 is expected to exceed RMB 2 trillion (US $241.8 billion). China’s long struggle against hunger has had impact on the country’s food industry. He Pinghua, associate professor with the Central China Agriculture University, holds that as increasing production was the most pressing task for so many years, insufficient attention was paid to either food safety or the circulation of relevant information.

NPC Deputy Zhang Wenrong, from Shanghai, discovered 150 food safety problems after visiting more than 500 food stalls of the metropolis’ 200 farmers’ market. His 64-page report has become a “food safety shopping guide” for local residents. Most of the problems that Zhang discovered were linked to food production, processing and circulation. Illegal use of farm chemicals, veterinary drugs and food additives, and excessive content of pesticide residue in food products have caused a rapid increase in related diseases. A study by China’s Ministry of Commerce says that the rate of excessive content of pesticide residue in market vegetables is 7 percent, and that of clenbuterol hydrochloride in livestock products stands at 1.2 percent. Zhong Nanshan, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering who became a household name during the country’s battle against SARS, says that problems associated with food safety are becoming more and more prominent. For instance, sperm counts in Guangdong males have plummeted by almost 50 percent in 40 years. Since the country joined the WTO, excessive content of pesticide residue has seriously hindered exports of Chinese food.

A staggering 1 million food production businesses operate in China, but 70 percent of these are family businesses, with staff of less than 10. A significant number do not implement state food safety standards, and the quality of their products is not controlled. Fewer than 1 percent of China’s 50,000 food retailers have their own quality control and testing centers. Among the country’s 26,000 farmers’ markets, only two dozen have garbage treatment facilities.

In 2003, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China carried out selective quality examinations on 2,000 food products. The pass rate was only 82.1 percent, and the percentage for medium-sized and small enterprises was only 76.2 percent. Poor production and distribution methods mean that counterfeit and shoddy food products are rampant. In April 2004, fake milk powder sold in Fuyang, Anhui Province caused the death of 13 infants and almost 200 cases of malnutrition. Some of the powder contained nothing but cornstarch and sugar. Some 127 tons of the fake milk powder were discovered around the country. That same year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine seized over RMB 3 billion’s worth of counterfeit or shoddy goods in 199,000 cases.

Gap between China and Developed Countries

Hu Xiaosong, a professor with the China Agricultural University Food Safety Technological Center, says that Western countries solved their food and clothing shortages back in the mid-to-late 1950s, but that China has only recently done so. Many urban residents are now seriously concerned about the safety of their food. Western nations have spent fifty years establishing a legal system and quality control mechanisms to govern food safety. China could not be expected to catch up in just a few years.

The country has actually made tremendous progress regarding food safety. In the mid-1980s, agricultural and food products that met state standards of quality control averaged between 60 and 70 percent. By the mid 1990s, that rate had jumped to 80 percent, and progress continues.

In 1995, China issued the Food Hygiene Law, and in 2003, it announced the Food Safety Action Plan. As part of its attempts to regulate the markets, the State Council has cracked down on counterfeit and shoddy goods. Three years ago, China introduced a market access system whereby 28 categories of food would be placed under a supervision and control system. Rice, flour, cooking oil, soy sauce and vinegar have so far been put under the system and 95 percent of these products’ national sales volume is produced by qualified enterprises. Another 10 categories, including meat and dairy products and soft drinks, are in the final stages of completion, while work on the remaining 13, including tea and candies, has already begun.

Vice Premier Wu Yi of the State Council said at the opening ceremony of the Global Forum on Food Safety, held in December 2004 that, “China’s food safety situation has improved, but there is still a long way to go.” In 1996, China banned the use of Sudan Red I in food production, but testing standards were a long time coming, showing that the country lags behind in food safety standards. Of China’s current food safety standards, only 23 percent meet the international or advanced standards that apply in developed nations. Certain food additives that are banned abroad are still permitted in China. Moreover, in many cases, limits, testing methods and standards are few and far between, and are not coordinated where they do exist. Zhu Yicai, chairman of the Yurun Group, holds that without a unified system of quality standards, confusion exists among consumers and producers alike.

There are nearly 10 departments responsible for food safety supervision, with more than one million employees. But as Chief Sun Xianze of the State Food and Drug Administration says, “these departments’ functions overlap, and sometimes even contradict each other, causing a dilution of forces and resources.” Many experts suggest that a Food Safety Commission be established that centralizes food safety administration and quality control.

Lifestyle Impact

Zong Qinghou, chairman of China’s largest soft drinks producer the Wahaha Group, says, “The safety of food is more important than the food itself. It is a question of basic hygiene, one that concerns the national economy, as well as the people’s very livelihoods.” Research results from a two-year project conducted by the Hangzhou Center of Disease Control and Prevention reveal that traditional Chinese foods, such as roast chicken, roast duck, smoked fish, salted meat and fermented soya beans can be just as unsafe as those containing Sudan Red I. At the same time, the Chinese diet is undergoing a rapid transformation, with high-fat foods and fast food becoming more and more popular. Nearly 200 million Chinese people are overweight, and among them, 60 million are obese. Incidences of diet-related illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and apoplexy are increasing rapidly. Hu Xiaosong concludes, “Radical changes are occurring in our diet and nutrition structures, bringing with them great risks to people’s health.”