|
BEIJING,
Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior health official said here Wednesday that China will set up a "preemptive"
monitoring system to improve food safety in China.
"It means we will try to rid food
problems by early detection, early warning and early intervention,"
said Su Zhi, deputy general director of health
inspection and supervision bureau under the Ministry of Health.
Illegal chemicals added into food have
led to several major food scares in China. Despite frequent
government crackdowns, illegal non-food substances remained a threat.
In the latest scandal, milk powder and
other dairy products containing the industry chemical melamine sickened
more than 294,000 infants and likely killed six.
Su said the "preemptive"
monitoring system" will include a monitoring network on food
manufacturing and distribution with focus on food additives and non-food
substances.
"Enterprises must list what they've
added into the food products. Except for food additives, it is illegal to
add any other non-food substances no matter whether they are harmful or
not," he told Xinhua.
The system will also include a
monitoring network on food-borne diseases, blacklists of illegal food
additives, building of a competent technician team and a transparent
reporting system, he said.
Su said the "preemptive"
approach, proposed by China's
Health Minister Chen Zhu, was based on lessons from the tainted dairy
scandal.
"We used to rely on crackdowns
(to solve food problems)," he said. "But now we are combining
punishment with prevention with more stress on the latter."
On Dec. 15, the Ministry of Health
published a blacklist of 17 non-food substances that could not be added to
food production, including melamine and cancer-causing industrial dye sudan
red used to color egg yolks.
Su said the Ministry will continue to
blacklist illegal additives. "The purpose is to encourage public
supervision," he said.
China has approved a total of
1,812 types of food additives, including 290 food additives, 1,528 spices,
149 food processing auxiliary materials and 55 chewing gum bases, according
to a food additive standard effective in June this year.
|
2008-12-31
16:04:49 