Society

Fight against illegal food additives gains steam

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-14 22:40

BEIJING - From 24-hour complaint hotlines to instant additive detectors, local governments in China are striving to battle the illegal use of food additives following a string of food scandals.

According to a statement released Saturday by the office of the food safety commission under the State Council, China's Cabinet, governments in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong have incorporated the local food safety situation into the evaluation of officials' work, while ordering strengthened and coordinated food safety supervision at city and county levels.

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For instance, the provincial government in northeastern Jilin has set up round-the-clock hotlines for food safety complaints and recruited 1,300 voluntary food safety supervisors who go deep into communities for clues on potential food scandals.

Supervisors in southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were equipped with additive detecting devices, which are reportedly able to check 27 kinds of illegal food additives "quickly and correctly", including melamine and clenbuterol, a kind of fat-burning drug used by violators to feed pigs to prevent them from accumulating fat.

Meanwhile, law enforcement departments in Chongqing, Guangdong, Liaoning and Hunan have punished violators involved in a series of food scandals which included "poisonous bean sprouts", "inked vermicelli" and "dyed peppers", according to the statement.

The document did not provide details on these cases.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang recently warned of the great harm imposed by illegal additives in food during a high-profile national meeting, promising a "firm attitude, iron-handed measures and more efforts" in dealing with the problem.

A high-profile, nationwide fight against the illegal use of additives in food was launched in April to intensify supervision, upgrade safety standards and greatly increase penalties for violators.