Some skeptical of China's new food safety law(1)
The new law, which China's legislature passed Saturday, toughens penalties against makers of tainted food. It also establishes a Cabinet-level food safety commission to improve monitoring, beef up safety standards, and recall substandard products.
Wu Yongning, deputy director of China's National Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, said the new law is a lost opportunity to create a single, powerful body — akin to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — to handle food safety.
Wu counts 13 Chinese government departments with a hand in food safety. He said at least five will remain heavily involved under the new law.
"There has been no fundamental reform of the system that many people in the industry hoped for," Wu said.
"There will be better coordination, but problems like Sanlu will still happen," he said.
Sanlu was the company that in August recalled 700 tons of powdered milk adulterated with melamine, a chemical that is harmful to humans but was added to falsify protein readings. Across China, tainted milk killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000 people. In 2007, thousands of American pets were sickened by Chinese pet food also containing melamine.
In recent years, Beijing has launched a series of crackdowns against substandard food producers. The FDA also opened up its first overseas offices in China last November.
The new law, effective June 1, and the new commission, to be based in the Ministry of Health, represent the most forceful effort yet at solving food safety issues.
