China plays down extent of food safety troubles
China played down the country`s food-safety problems on Tuesday but at the same time showed off room after room of confiscated fakes, indicating the extent of the challenge it faces to clean up the industry.
Fresh scandals involving fake food and medicines are reported by Chinese media report almost every day, and the issue has burst into the international spotlight since tainted additives exported from China contaminated pet food in North America.
"Yes, we have had some problems with the food safety of Chinese products. However, they are not that serious," said Li Dongsheng, vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. "We should not exaggerate those problems.
"We are very concerned about food safety in China and we are very concerned about protecting the rights of consumers, but we do not want to cause panic among the people which may be unnecessary," Li told a news conference.
Li`s administration works to ferret out the billions of dollars worth of counterfeit and substandard goods produced every year in China, from fake medicine to luxury handbags, and encourages consumers to call its hotline network with complaints.
The hotlines, which cover about 60 percent of urban areas and just under half of rural China, are usually headed by the head of the local government, Li said, raising questions about conflict of interest in a country whose Communist leaders openly warn about the extent of corruption.
Li said such problems existed, but they were rare.
"We have an expression in China: If you put a leaf in front of your eyes, you can`t see the whole forest," he said.
"It`s only a small problem, but it is a small problem we must pay great attention to."
BEAKERS AND TEST TUBES
It is also a problem that has extended to the highest levels of China`s web of food safety bodies, which include the State
Food and Drug Administration, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the Health and Agriculture Ministries.
On Tuesday, Chinese media reported that the country`s former food and drug safety chief, sentenced to death in May on charges of taking bribes from drug companies and dereliction of duty, would appeal.
At the Beijing branch of the Administration for Industry and Commerce, laboratory workers in white coats prodded beakers and filled test tubes on desks spread with packaged supermarket products pulled from the shelves for testing.
The centre, which is responsible for testing for the Beijing market, including food products to be sold during the 2008 Olympics, checks for heavy metals, pesticide residues and the safety of additives.
It also boasts an entire floor full of rooms that show the fruits of its detective work, counterfeit foods ranging from bottles of fake Chivas Regal to Doublemint bubble gum to chicken bullion and milk powder.
Despite the array of remarkably real-looking fakes -- not only food products, but also clothes, household appliances and skincare products, among others -- Li said the troubles facing China were no greater than those faced by many other countries.
Asked about the most common problem discovered by his staff, Li replied: "We should say that for the great majority, there is no problem."
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