The recent series of food safety scandals to hit China has prompted calls for a revamp to supervision practices. During the 3rd China Food Safety Forum, participants committed to implement stricter law enforcement to assure food safety in China.

To buy or not to buy, it is a question many have to ponder now, as a wave of food safety scares has renewed fears in China over continued problems. Shoppers told us they hope food safety violations will be resolved in a more effective and timely manner.

A Beijing resident said, "I often buy food and other products that are popular and have a good reputation."

During the 3rd China Food Safety Forum, about 10 governmental departments related to food safety vowed to implement stricter enforcement to assure the quality of food.

Yu Jun, vice director general of Department of Food Safety of State Council of China, said, "We will improve our monitoring system. We are urging the local governments to standard enterprises. Companies and individuals will be handed severe penalties if they break food safety or other laws pertaining to the quality of food."

In China, there are about 500 thousand food production companies. But for many of them, a weak food value chain is the main problem. When a scandal emerges, the public interrogates not only supervisory agencies, but also blames the food company at the center of the controversy.

Huang Qitai, chief scientist of Synutra International, Inc, said "I think the food safety problem depends on the people in the company. We should raise our company's culture to a new level in order to win the respect of consumers, so we do not see the illegal additives in our food today. "

A publicity week on China Food Safety is also beginning around the country. The aim is to make people know more about the State's standard of food safety and the knowledge of additives in food.

Tainted food scandals have caused nationwide concern. As, it is urgent for related departments to more strictly enforce laws and regulations to resolve the country's food safety problems, which concern everyone's health.