China launches 'war' against cheap products
BEIJING
- The government Wednesday declared a four-month "special war" against
poor product quality and supervision after a spate of safety concerns
over Chinese products worldwide.
Eight categories of products are involved: pork, drugs, agricultural
products, processed food, food in the catering sector, import and export
products, and other products related to public health such as toys and
electric wires.
Twenty detailed targets to be met by the year-end have been set.
For example, it is mandatory that all food producers be licensed; all
pigs be slaughtered at designated places; all agricultural product
wholesale markets in cities be monitored; all raw material bases for
export products be inspected; and all restaurants and dining halls check
safety certification when they buy raw materials.
There
are some forbidden zones as well. For instance, it is banned to use five
types of strong pesticide in agricultural products, to sell poultry that
die of disease, or to add harmful additives to food.
"This is a special war to protect the safety and interests of the
general public, as well as a war to safeguard the made-in-China label
and the country's image," Vice Premier Wu Yi said during a national
teleconference yesterday in Beijing.
It was the first meeting on quality control Wu chaired after being
appointed head of a cabinet-level panel on food safety and quality
control last week.
She acknowledged that despite progress made in the past few years,
the country did have some "deep-rooted" problems regarding food and
product quality.
They include a large number of small food plants with poor equipment
and management, excessive amount of drug residues, and the use of fake
materials.
Poor supervision and overlapping enforcement powers have to be
addressed as well, according to Wu.
She said it was essential to establish and develop "two chains, one
system and one network." The chains refer to the supervision of the
entire production process of industrial and food products; the system is
a product recall and accountability system; the network refers to a
comprehensive quality monitoring system in every corner of society.
"If successful, food safety and product quality in the country will
be lifted to a new stage," Wu said.
She also stressed zero tolerance toward violators, including
producers and vendors, and government officials who fail to perform
their duty.
The campaign is the latest by the government to improve product
quality.
In the past month, apart from setting up the cabinet-level panel on
food safety and product quality, it has drawn up a blacklist of illegal
importers and exporters, issued a special regulation on better quality
supervision, and released a white paper on food safety.
Despite safety concerns, the country's fast-rising exports show that
Chinese products are still popular, Assistant Minister of Commerce Wang
Chao told a press conference yesterday. In the first half of this year,
China exported 546.7 billion U.S. dollars worth of products, up 27.6
percent over the same period of last year.
"The growth shows that most importers, retailers and consumers have a
fair and understanding attitude toward Chinese products," Wang said.
(Courtesy: China Daily)
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