The State Council of China has just released a 3 year plan to improve the quality and safety of their foods. This initiative is done in the wake of several scandals involving tainted food products originating in China. However, if you’ve kept up with China and how they regulate their food manufacturing industry, you may have your doubts as to whether or not they’ll actually live up to their promise. To learn more about this initiative, keep reading.
Why China Decided To Improve Their Food Safety
If you’ve kept up with the world new surrounding the health and food industry, you might remember the melamine-tainted milk scandal which occurred back in 2008. Apparently, several milk processing facilities were adding this dangerous chemical to their dairy products, including baby formulas. As a result of the melamine-tainted milk, over 300,000 children became sick with various illnesses, including kidney diseases and infections, and 6 deaths were reportedly linked to the chemical.
In response to the world outcry of the scandal, China handed out the death penalty to 3 of the individuals involved and gave 3 others a life sentence.
After the incident, the Chinese government passed a food safety law in 2009 to better protect the health and well-being of their citizens and the individuals who consume their imported foods.
About This New Initiative
The new food safety initiative that Chinese media is currently reporting on is supposed to go hand-in-hand with the laws passed back in 2009. They claim that within the next 3 to 5 years, the food production industry China will drastically change for the better. There will be new regulations, standards, technical support, and an improved monitoring and legal system regarding the food industry.
One of the new changes in this initiative is a database of businesses in the food industry. If a business is blacklisted, it will be listed on the database and punishment will occur.
With a population of over 1.3 billion people, China’s going to have some serious restructuring to do if they want to make significant changes to their industry. Can they really change the face of their food industry in just a few years time? There’s no denying the fact that they’ve done some pretty remarkable feats in the past, but this seems like a pretty steep hill for them to climb. But for the sake of their residents and ours, I sure hope they make some improvements to the food safety industry in the years to come.