A butcher cuts pork in Nantong, Jiangsu province, Dec. 9, 2011. One of the chief food safety worries on Chinese people’s minds is consuming meat from diseased livestock. (Photo/Xinhua)
A survey conducted by the Chinese government shows that over 80% of people in the country worry about food safety, concerned about excessive pesticide use, illegal additives, “gutter oil” and diseased livestock.
The survey was conducted by Insight China, a member of the Qiushi (“Seeking Truth”) magazine group, a bi-monthly political theory magazine published by the Chinese Communist Party.
Of those interviewed, 80.4% said they don’t feel safe about five kinds of food: cooked meat products, deep fried food, fresh meat, dairy and vegetables. Over half of the interviewees believed that food safety standards are even lower than they were one year earlier.
The five issues that those interviewed were most concerned about were excessive amounts of pesticide and insecticide residue in vegetables, the use of illegal additives in all kinds of food, meat taken from livestock killed by diseases, poisonous substances such as melamine added in food, and gutter oil — cooking oil that is made from rotted food products, recycled oil and sewage.
According to the survey, Chinese consumers believe that the three biggest steps in the food process at which quality can be jeopardized are production and processing, inspection and quarantining and food monitoring. As many as 63.7% think the food safety situation is “very severe.” The survey found that 91.3% of the interviewees are “very concerned” about food safety issues, and 55.2% think that the government’s has loosened up on food monitoring.
Despite the Chinese government’s efforts to crackdown on illegal additives in food, over half of the interviewees thought that food safety had worsened compared to last year, and 52.5% were unhappy with the current situation. As part of a campaign for better food safety last year, President Hu Jintao emphasized that “food safety has to be closely monitored,” while Premier Wen Jiabao stated that “flaws in the trust of food safety as well as degradation of morality have come to a level that is considerably alarming.”
This year, China will make public lists of brands or companies that have failed national requirements on food safety in order to empower consumers and avoid food-related illness.
Source: Want China Times