China - Heavier fines to ensure food safety
28 Dec 2007
China Daily - Zhu Zhe
Exporters of food products that fail to meet safety standards of destination countries face a fine of up to 20 times the value of the consignment and can even be charged for committing a crime if the top legislature approves a draft law. Food product exporters who fail to go through entry-exit quarantine inspections face similar punishments, according to the draft law under the first review at the ongoing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. If approved, the draft law will spell out clear penalties for illegal food exporters for the first time. The two existing laws on food safety, the Food Hygiene Law and the Law on Agricultural Product Quality and Safety, say nothing about penalties. They only authorize the State Council to issue relevant regulations. The draft food safety law seeks to impose tighter checks on food exports, too, and makes it mandatory for food exporters and supply farms to register with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). The AQSIQ has to prepare a blacklist of violators and recommend exporters with good records, and make both the lists public, the draft says.

China - Draft Law on Food Safety submitted for review
27 Dec 2007
CCTV
The much anticipated draft Law on Food Safety was submitted to the national legislature for its first review on Wednesday. The story says that the draft law highlights the primary responsibility of food producers and operators. It includes production permits and re-calls of unsafe food. The draft law also requires the establishment of a unified system of information disclosure. Cao Kangtai, legal policy chief of State Council, was quoted as saying, "The department authorized by the State Council is responsible for the release of risk alerts information on food safety issues. Such disclosure should be swift, objective and correct. The authorized department should also explain the possible damage that might be caused by unsafe food to avoid panic." The draft law also requires the establishment of a food risk analysis and monitoring system, and stricter inspection of imports and exports.

China and U.S. in food safety accord
11 Dec 2007
New York Times - Steven R. Weisman
China and the United States were cited as signing an agreement today calling for a greater United States role in certifying and inspecting Chinese food exports, including an increased presence of American officials at Chinese production plants. The story says that the accord would impose new registration and inspection requirements on Chinese food exporters for 10 specific products. The United States government would maintain a public list of the exporters’ records. Michael Leavitt, secretary of health and human services, was cited as saying he expected that officials of the United States Food and Drug Administration would eventually be embedded in China’s food safety bureaucracy to help train Chinese officials and keep records on their inspections. American officials were cited as saying that the agreement was less than sweeping because it does not cover all the food products sought for tighter inspections, but that it was a start and could be expanded. It is to cover some preserved foods, pet foods and farm-raised fish, all products that have come under suspicion of being tainted. Andrew von Eschenbach, commissioner of the F.D.A., was cited as saying agency officials were already allowed to inspect Chinese operations under limited conditions but that the new agreement would expand that role and also possibly set a model for similar agreements in other parts of the world.
Related stories
China strains to police quality: Report says U.S. needs better system to inspect safety of food imports
05 Oct 2007 - Wall Street Journal Jane Zhang
Congressional investigators, after a two-week fact-finding trip, were cited as concluding that China's food safety system is broken and the U.S. needs a stronger inspection system to keep out tainted products. The Chinese food production relies on "hundreds of millions of private farms," and intermediaries then funnel food products into small-operation processors, according to a report set to be released today by the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee. As a result, the Chinese government, with regulatory power split among central and local levels, has "minimal ability" to ensure product safety. While the Chinese government appears determined to avoid food-safety disasters, the report says, its effectiveness is limited. Exporters without government-issued certificates have evaded the Chinese inspection system and brought to the U.S. such foods as melamine-contaminated wheat flour, which triggered a large pet-food recall in the U.S. earlier this year.

China – Honk Kong's food safety bill good for trade: official
11 Dec 2007
Xinhua News Agency (China)
Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health York Chow was cited as saying here Tuesday that the proposed Food Safety Bill in Hong Kong will boost food control without imposing a huge burden on the trade. Speaking at Legislative Council Panel on Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene, Chow was cited as saying given that 95 percent of the food Hong Kong people consume is imported from overseas, the city must strengthen its import-control measures to ensure a safe food supply. After reviewing the food safety law and researching overseas legislation and regulatory regimes on food safety, the bureau proposes to formulate a new bill adopting an incremental and risk- based approach in expanding Hong Kong's import control, initially over food with high potential health risk. The control measures may be extended to other food types when the risk level of the food concerned has changed. Chow said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has balanced the need for tighter control and the trade 's concerns about over- regulation which will result in higher compliance costs and hence higher food prices and reduction in food choice.

China to launch campaign on enhancing food safety for children
09 Dec 2007
Xinhua News Agency (China) Editor: Du Guodong
China is, according to this story, to launch a nationwide campaign on improving food safety in mid-December to better protect its children and teenagers. Cheng Zhigang, a spokesman with the campaign leading group was quoted as saying here on Sunday, "Its goal is to spread food safety and nutrition knowledge to children and their parents, help youngsters have healthy dietary habits and regulate domestic food market." During the campaign, the organizer will adopt tangible measures including establishing a special fund for children's food safety, formulating national standards for food quality catering to children and supervising the food quality in groceries and supermarkets in rural areas.

Vietnam requires national action force on food safety
08 Dec 2007
NhanDan
A FAO-sponsored seminar in Hanoi on December 7 was cited as affirming the need to set up a national rapid response system to deal with food safety issues. Deputy Health Minister Cao Minh Quang was cited as saying that food poisoning cases, especially mass food poisoning cases, are on the rise, while biological pollution and toxic chemical residues in farm produce and seafood is now the most urgent matter regarding food safety in Vietnam. He also pointed to unhygienic practices by food processing and supply establishments and services and uncontrolled food imports. While the available legal framework has enabled the country to respond quickly and effectively to many emergencies including the severe diarrhoea epidemic and bird flu, Vietnam still lacks an official rapid response system, including a national plan and a coordination mechanism for those involved in the task. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) provided Vietnam with US $80,000 as part of a three-year project on strengthening management capacity of food safety and hygiene in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

China - Food safety crackdown
06 Dec 2007
New York Times - David Barboza
The official Xinhua news agency was cited as saying today that China had demolished the facilities of more than 2,800 rural food makers as part of its effort to crack down on shoddy, fake or substandard food. The story notes that Beijing has been moving aggressively in recent months to complete a six-month long campaign to root out fake and substandard food, drugs, toys and other consumer goods, after a year of scandals involving product safety. While the government has insisted through much of the year that the country’s products are safe, the government has acknowledged uncovering tens of thousands of problem or dangerous operations over the past six months. Yesterday, regulators said that this year more than 20,000 tons of substandard products were removed from shelves in rural markets and stores, and that they had closed more than 47,000 food factories that were operating illegally.

China defends product safety regulatory system
27 Nov 2007
Reuters/ China Daily - Ben Blanchard
Chinese officials were cited as defending on Tuesday a system of having multiple departments oversee the nation's food and product quality, saying practice had shown this was the best way to tackle problems. The stories say that China, reeling from a series of scandals over tainted and substandard goods, has come under fire for failing to set up a central regulatory authority. The health and agriculture ministries, the food and drug administration and the quality watchdog all have different degrees of responsibility for product safety. Health Minister Chen Zhu was cited as saying this topic had come up at a just-concluded international forum on food safety in Beijing, but insisted the government was coordinating action properly, adding, "The point I must underline is that under the strong leadership of the State Council, the inter-departmental coordination mechanism for product quality and food safety has all along been working effectively." The stories explain that Vice Premier Wu Yi, who led China's 2003 fight against SARS, has been tasked with restoring confidence to the made-in-China label after a disastrous couple of months marked by global toy recalls and pet deaths linked to poisonous feed. Chen said he was confident Wu would succeed, helped by quality chief Li Changjiang, who stressed that China's food exports have maintained a more than 99 percent qualification rate for years.

Malaysia - China food on alert list
21 Nov 2007
The Star - Audrey Edwards
Honey, oyster sauce and dried mushrooms are, according to this story, among food products from China which have been placed on the food alert list for contravening regulations in Malaysia. Data from the Health Ministry Food Quality and Safety Division indicated, in samples taken on specific dates, that pesticide residue was detected in the dried mushrooms on four occasions from April to July this year. Drug residue was found in the honey sample taken in June while the cancer-causing agent 3-MCPD was found in oyster sauce tested in May. There were 32 Chinese products placed under the ministry's Food Safety Information System (FoSIM) level five alert, where products are held, tested and then released, from January to October this year. There are six levels of alerts – the first is auto clearance and the sixth is auto rejection.

China, Southeast Asia sign pact on food safety
20 Nov 2007
XFN
China and Southeast Asia, according to this story, signed a pact on food safety at a regional summit here today, pledging to cooperate to protect consumers and improve the handling of potential health threats. The agreement committed China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen efforts to ensure the safety of food and agricultural products imported between them.

Vietnam - Health officials crack down on old market safety, hygiene
16 Nov 2007
Viet Nam News
Many street markets in HCM City are, according to this story, dirty and unhygienic, and health officials have said something needs to be done about it. According to deputy head of HCM City People’s Council’s Social and Cultural Issues Committee Nguyen Van Minh, only newly-built wholesale markets in the city, like Binh Tay and An Dong markets, are up to health safety standards, while t he rest are mostly built over 30 years ago. Part of the problem was dilapidated architecture, the deputy said, adding although most old markets were repaired at least once a year, the repairs were patchy and insufficient.

Japan brewer farms in China as safe food demand rises
14 Nov 2007
New York Times/Reuters
A model farm is, according to this story, being developed by Japan's Asahi Breweries Ltd at the request of the government of Shandong, China's top producer and exporter of farm products ranging from grains to chicken. With a spate of scandals sparking a global outcry over the quality of Chinese products, Beijing is cranking up efforts to improve safety not only for exports but also for products sold at home.' Masaya Inui, president of Shandong Asahi Green Source High-Tech Farm Co. Ltd in Laiyang, about 100 km north of Qingdao, was quoted as saying.Together with Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Itochu Corp, Asahi invested 1.5 billion yen ($13 million) last year to set up the 100-hectare farm, which supplies cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao. While Asahi Green does not expect to break even until 2011, it hopes the Japanese technology will help farmers improve efficiency, food safety and income as well as repair soil damaged by years of heavy chemicals use.

China - High Level International Food Safety Forum, Beijing
02 Nov 2007
World Health Organization
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China, with cosponsorship from the World Health Organization, will host the High Level International Food Safety Forum in Beijing, 26-27 November 2007. The focus will be on the integrated approach to the prevention of foodborne diseases, the sharing of information and expertise, food safety education and capacity building and the promotion of healthy development of international trade of food and agricultural products. The forum will be attended by senior officials from food safety authorities, international and regional organizations, representatives from the food industry and consumer organizations.

New Zealand - Survey provides insight into consumers' thinking
01 Nov 2007
Press Release: New Zealand Food Safety Authority
Results of a survey on the perceptions of food safety in New Zealand suggest that more than half (53%) of all those questioned believe food safety standards have improved during the past few years. A quantitative study, carried out by UMR Research in July on behalf of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) also reveals that the number of people studying ingredient labels has risen to 58% – that's 10% more than those questioned in the original survey carried out in 2002. The survey is the third undertaken for NZFSA since that time, and shows a number of interesting trends. While most respondents (85%), cited chicken as a primary food safety concern, 95% said they were aware of the need for special care when cooking and handling poultry and always checked to ensure such meat had been cooked properly before eating it. Similarly, 9 out of 10 said they always followed the 4Cs (clean, cook, cover, chill) rules when handling poultry. Elsewhere in the survey 91% of respondents said they would like food outlets to clearly display their hygiene ratings and there was solid support for labelling initiatives, such as 'free of added hormones'. Overall, three-quarters of respondents cited Salmonella as a food safety issue that most concerned them; 67% identified antibiotics in meat and 63% said Campylobacter. The number of respondents concerned about the use of pesticides to grow food, and genetically modified foods, remained consistent at 62% and 56% respectively, compared with 63% and 57% in 2005. Ms Daly said: "Interestingly, the survey also showed us that though 42% of respondents believe government regulations on food handling practices at fund-raising barbeques or food stalls would be 'over the top' 81% say that they would expect the same level of food safety at a fund-raising dinner as they would at any other commercial outlet. The survey results, which overall are similar to those in the last UMR survey carried out in 2005, are based on a nationally representative random telephone survey of 750 New Zealanders, aged 18 and over. It was conducted throughout June and July this year. The margin of error for a 50% figure at the 95% confidence level is +/-3.6%. The survey is available on NZFSA's website at: http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/consumers/food-safety-topics/consumer-surveys/ind ex.htm

China - 774 arrests over safety
30 Oct 2007
New York Times - David Barboza
The Chinese government was cited as revealing today that it had arrested 774 people over the last two months as part of a nationwide crackdown on the production and sale of tainted food, drugs and agricultural products. Government regulators hailed the arrests as a major step forward for food and drug safety, and said the “criminal suspects” were detained during nationwide inspections of thousands of restaurants, food and drug production plants and wholesale food markets. But, the story notes, the government also acknowledged today that problems remain. In its announcement, it said that this month only 82 percent of food tested in medium and large cities in China met safety standards, and nearly 30 percent of the restaurants surveyed by regulators had failed food safety inspections. The announcement of the arrests, which was made over the weekend but was not posted on a government Web site until today, offered few details about the nature and seriousness of the food and drug safety violations involved — or, indeed, who had been arrested or the size of their businesses. The government said only that it had investigated 626 criminal cases.

New Zealand - NZFSA imported foods programme enhanced
29 Oct 2007
New Zealand Food Safety Authority
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) is confident that imported foods are ably managed under New Zealand’s current import system but this will be further enhanced with the introduction of a new programme that will bring imported food safety management into line with updated domestic systems. Results from NZFSA imported food testing programme confirm that recent fears about imported food have not been borne out. However, NZFSA is looking forward to the changes it is planning to implement following its recent extensive review of the imported foods programme. The new programme better reflects the diversity of imported foods New Zealand consumers now want to buy and moves away from routine testing of a prescribed list of high-risk foods at the border, to one that sees foods grouped into three levels of regulatory interest – high, medium and low – each of which has different import requirements, depending on the product’s potential risk to human health. To ensure the programme remains flexible and responsive to emerging food safety issues, foods can be placed on a scanning list which will permit additional temporary monitoring measures to immediately be put in place when risks are identified or when gaps in knowledge arise, irrespective of the categorisation of that food. These measures could take the form of test-and-hold or test-and-release, or other systems that would continue until further decisions could be made on how the food should be treated. Ongoing monitoring will ensure the programme remains effective and responsive. A comprehensive communication system will also be put in place to ensure importers know and understand their obligations and where they can go to get relevant information.


Japan – Labelling scandals
25 Oct 2007
Seattle P-I - Hiroko Tabuchi
Japan has, according to this story, been hit by a slew of food safety and false labeling scandals that is threatening to wreck its image as a country of culinary wonders, squeaky-clean factories and impeccable sanitation. The story says that in the most recent, a venerable maker of traditional Japanese sweets was found to have recycled the red bean filling in its rice cakes, collecting old filling from leftover boxes and shipping them out as new. Investigators also found that Akafuku Co., based in western Japan, had long misguided consumers by shipping out old sweets it stored in freezers, stamped with a production date that was in fact the date the old cakes were thawed. The story goes on to say that while there have been no reports of illness or food-poisoning related to any of the scandals, they have dominated local media and alarmed Japanese shoppers. The incidents also come as Japanese consumers - appalled over rampant product safety problems in neighboring China, a major trading partner - had been turning to domestic produce as a sure sign of quality.

Japan - Meatpacker arrested as false label woes hit Japan
24 Oct 2007
Agence France Presse English
Japanese police were cited as arresting on Wednesday the former executives of a meatpacking firm in one of a series of scares over false food labelling in the country. Police on the northern island of Hokkaido arrested former president Minoru Tanaka and three other former executives of Meat Hope Co., a meatpacking company. Police suspect the four officials were responsible for falsely labelling minced meat containing pork and chicken as 100 percent beef so as to boost profits. The firm has allegedly sold at least 360 tonnes of meat with false labels since 1998, news reports said.

South Korea prepared to normalize beef trade with U.S
10 Oct 2007
Feedstuffs
South Korean Agriculture Minister Im Sang-gyu said today it's time for Korea to renegotiate rules for importing U.S. beef to recognize that U.S. beef is safe under international standards, including a determination earlier this year by the World Organization for Animal health that the U.S. is at "controlled risk" for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Im said Korean and U.S. negotiators will meet tomorrow and Friday in the first technical talks to move forward in rewriting the rules.

China - Food safety struggle bearing fruit
09 Oct 2007
China Daily/Associated Press - Zhu Zhe
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) was cited as saying Monday that all legal food exports now bear inspection labels, and any illegally imported meat, fruit or waste materials in circulation has been either returned or destroyed.
The story says that the CIQ (China Inspection and Quarantine) inspection mark signifies that the goods meet quality standards and should help foreign food importers distinguish certified Chinese food products from fake ones. And the return or destruction of illegally imported products has helped keep the public safe, according to an announcement by AQSIQ Minister Li Changjiang was quoted as saying both measures are part of the ongoing national campaign against unsafe food and substandard products. Li said the campaign, launched in late August, had "achieved good results".
Figures released Monday show that by the end of last month, 80 percent of the country's food processing enterprises had received production licenses, and about 70 percent of the small food plants with less than 10 staff had committed to making safe products. In addition, 70 percent of the raw material bases for export food products had been inspected, and 94 percent of the agricultural wholesale markets in big and medium sized cities had been brought under the observation of a monitoring system, according to the AQSIQ.

New Zealand - NZFSA continues to affirm safety of A1 milk
06 Oct 2007
New Zealand Food Safety Authority Media Release
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) continues to affirm that there is no safety issue with A1 milk. "Keith Woodford's paperback offers no new evidence about the safety of milk," says Carole Inkster, NZFSA Director (Joint Food Standards). "He is welcome to his opinion on this subject, however we are very concerned at the possible negative health impact that could occur, particularly for children and pregnant women, if people stop drinking milk. "This position is shared by international experts in most other countries where A1 milk has been consumed for thousands of years. Keith Woodford clearly has a personal interest in this area but is not a recognised expert in the medical or biochemical fields (he is a professor of farm management and agribusiness). His paperback and the hypothesis it presents has not been published by a medical, scientific or university publisher and it is not clear if his interpretation of the science has been peer reviewed. "His latest 'working document' is further conjecture and opinion. There are many errors of interpretation. One of the most basic is his concern that NZFSA had a view about milk before commissioning the review. We certainly had a position, as did the Ministry of Health before us, and presumably many other New Zealand government agencies involved in the food area over the last 100 years or so. "Milk is an important source of nutrition and, since the advent of pasteurisation, has been supported as a safe and nutritious food in New Zealand and globally. Professor Swinburn's review presented no conclusive evidence to change that position. Another misinterpretation relates to the reference to advice by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Keith Woodford uses the statement 'FSANZ recommends that milk should continue to be regarded as a safe and nutritious component of the diet for most people' as if it refers to A1 milk. 'For most people' is actually a reference to those who have dairy allergies - they can drink neither type of milk. People reading Keith Woodford's paperback, should ask how much else is similarly confused." Carole Inkster says NZFSA takes very seriously its government-mandated responsibility to protect consumer health through ensuring New Zealanders have access to safe, and in this case, nutritious food. "Keith Woodford appears to be confused about the roles of NZFSA as a body responsible for public health and safety. "NZFSA has no conflict in its two roles of protecting and promoting public health and facilitating market access. Unsafe food would have no access to any markets. One of our roles is to provide assurance to the governments of importing country about the safety of New Zealand food exports. "He also appears to be confused over the purpose of the original report. It was commissioned to determine whether there was basis to the health claims being made by A2 Corporation about its product. At the time of the report's release we made sure to avoid any confusion by stating as we and the world's other food safety agencies continue to state that milk is safe to drink and a good source of nutrition in a balanced diet." NZFSA has no concerns about the conspiracy claims made in the 'working document'. "Everyone is welcome to their opinion and to draw their own conclusions. The only concern that we have is that the claims being made by Keith Woodford could lead some people to decide to avoid milk altogether. Milk should continue to be regarded as a safe and nutritious component of the diet for all except people with dairy allergies. "There is no conclusive evidence that one type of milk is any safer than the other but we will continue to monitor the science."

New Zealand - Food tests widened
05 Oct 2007
New Zealand Herald
Food safety officials are, according to this story, to widen their testing of imported foods for harmful chemicals and bacteria, such as antibiotics and other growth promotants fed to farmed fish. The Food Safety Authority has already investigated imports of Chinese farmed fish, testing 31 canned and frozen products including shrimp, eel, prawns, dace, carp, anchovy, roe, and fish balls and other processed product. That testing in May found six residues of triphenylmethane dyes and their metabolites and nine residues of nitrofuran antibiotic metabolites, none of them at levels regarded as significant to health. In addition to triphenylmethane dyes and nitrofurans, the FSA will test for residues of the antibiotic chloramphenicol - normally used in eyedrops - and a range of other chemicals used to deal with poor water hygiene and high stock rates in land-locked farms. The FSA is also testing roquefort raw milk cheese from the European Union for levels of E.coli bacteria. Glean Neal, FSA assistant director for NZ standards, was quoted as saying, "Raw milk cheeses can carry a higher risk for some people. Our advice to pregnant women, young children, frail elderly and those with low immunity is to avoid raw milk cheeses."

Australia - FSANZ: New head for food regulatory authority
03 Oct 2007
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)
A new Chief Executive Officer, Stephen McCutcheon, will head the food regulatory authority Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) commencing on 29 October 2007. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Brett Mason, and the FSANZ board chairman, Rob Knowles, announced Mr McCutcheon’s appointment today.

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