Opinion | Without better food safety, China’s health agenda is a lost cause

deleciousfood | July 20, 2024 | Asian Food | No Comments

For years, my friend Viola and I have been regularly exchanging healthy recipes. Whenever one of us discovers new health-related literature, such as the recent book Survive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Dr. Peter Attia, or new science on longevity or some healthy ingredients in the supermarket, we say it immediately.

We have learned that replacing foods high in saturated fats, such as bacon, with salmon, or replacing saturated fats such as lard with olive oil, reduces the risk of heart attack and premature death. I believe that meat consumption should be less than 200g per day, while vegetables can be up to 500g, but we should also eat fish at least twice a week. Sweets and refined flour should be consumed in moderation, in small, controlled portions. Sometimes, when I cook, I use measured amounts of oil and salt to limit my consumption.

We also scour the internet for food scandals at one of the restaurants we love. When a dead rat was found in a hot pot restaurant in Xiabu Xiabu in 2018, we didn’t go there for months.

Earlier this month, a Beijing state newspaper reported that Chinese companies were using the same trucks to transport fuel and cooking oil. The report immediately sparked public concern and calls for increased oversight of the food transportation sector. Days later, the Chinese government, the State Council, set up a team to investigate the allegations.

The scandal was devastating. Suddenly, we felt like our healthy lifestyle habits were a joke. No matter how carefully we plan our meals, watch our calories, try to eliminate risks, what can we do if fuel is mixed into our cooking oil without our knowledge?

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China has a poor record on food safety. series of scandals that shocked the nation. In 2008, some 300,000 children were poisoned after Chinese suppliers added melaminea chemical used to make plastic, in their milk powder to artificially increase the protein content. The government launched an investigation and sentenced to death those responsible for the contamination and its cover-up.

In 2011, a public outcry erupted following a mainland media report that at least 10% of rice samples from various provinces contained excessive amounts of cadmiuma heavy metal that can cause bone problems if consumed in excessive amounts.

All the major domestic food scandals seem to have received adequate attention from the authorities. Observers say the latest cooking oil scandal could be brought up at the third plenum this week and could prompt China to strengthen its food safety policy.

But it is too late to react to food scandals once they have been revealed by the media, and the public cannot always afford to wait. The government must strengthen its food safety regulations and controls to prevent such scandals.

Under China’s Food Sanitation Law, a violator can be fined up to 50,000 yuan ($6,890) or have their license revoked. This punishment is not harsh enough. Food producers and sellers can be prosecuted criminally, but this usually only happens after consumers have suffered serious harm, as in the 2008 child melamine poisoning case.

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Many children who drank formula containing melamine ended up having renal failure and bladder stones, which have lifelong consequences for their health. It is too high a price to pay, and sentencing those responsible to death will not allow these children to recover.

Food production needs to be monitored more closely and there needs to be more rigorous checks before products are put on the market – and government control offices need to be punished when scandals emerge.

In the formula scandal, several officials who were punished for their negligence reportedly returned to power a few years later. This is discouraging for public opinion and suggests that some authorities still do not take food safety seriously enough. Punishing officials involved in food safety scandals in the same way as those involved in corruption cases could strengthen consumer confidence.

It is simply too difficult for ordinary citizens to be wary of health risks. It is impossible to monitor the many links in the food chain, from production to sale. Believe me, I have tried. The government and big business must take more action if they are to regain consumer trust.

Phoebe Zhang is a society reporter at The Post.

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