China Food Safety Takes Action
26 08 2007China is committed to cooperate and improve food safety and safety of other consumer products not only in the international arena but domestically as well. The government has already developed a “blacklist” over 400 exporters – companies found to be violating laws and regulations with regard to quality and safety of consumer products and punished many of same. In addition, there are an estimated 448,000 food processing businesses in China of which 353,000 have 10 employees or less and over half are not certified or properly certified. Li Changjiang, head of AQSIQ recently said: “There are many small food manufacturers making a wide range of products under poor conditions. The quality of their products is not stable and sometimes substandard”. The government is committed to the clean up.
It took the issue of tainted wheat gluten in pet food to prompt the most massive recall of retail pet foods and treats in U.S. history which in turn opened the flood gates of reports world-wide of similar cases ranging from toxins in cough medicine in Panama to toothpaste containing the thickening agent diethylene glycol. By the way, two companies responsible for shipping the tainted wheat gluten to the U.S. have now had their export foreign trade licenses revoked.
Technorati Tags: food safety, blacklist, Li Changjiang
