There have been too many food poisoning incidents in recent years.
So the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine (AQSIQ) is stepping in with a new licensing system
to ensure food safety. The first of this new safe food will be with
the public before the Spring Festival.
The system will introduce new measures for the strict supervision
of the production, quality inspection and sale of food. AQSIQ will
issue licenses to producers that are able to meet the new
standards.
Those who cannot get a license will just not be able to trade. Food
production will be subject to compulsory inspection and only once
standards have been properly assured will the food be permitted to
leave the factory. Food will be labeled with a "QS" branding to
show it is "qualified and safe" for consumption. The new system
will allow consumers to have confidence in the food they put on the
table.
By
the second quarter of this year, AQSIQ will have developed the
scheme to cover meat, milk, tea, drinks and seasoning. A survey
revealed significant problems with quality in these particular
types of food. Of the nation's 20,600 producers of these five
products, some 45 percent are small organizations with fewer than
ten staff, 60 percent are not covered by food inspection procedures
and 10 percent are operating without licenses. There is a clear
need for the introduction of the new more rigorous measures.
Information on the enterprises that have been successful in gaining
their new food producers' licenses will soon be made public.
Consumers can look out for the new QS marks showing their meat,
milk, tea, drinks and seasonings from properly licensed
suppliers.
(china.org.cn by Feng Yikun, January 23, 2003)