Chinese Public Mocks Claims Made for Food Safety

The pass rates of both China’s food safety inspection and its export food quality control have remained above 90 percent, recently claimed Pu Changcheng, deputy-director of the Chinese state’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). But consumers are not convinced
Chinese Public Mocks Claims Made for Food Safety
11/16/2011
Updated:
11/16/2011

The pass rates of both China’s food safety inspection and its export food quality control have remained above 90 percent, recently claimed Pu Changcheng, deputy-director of the Chinese state’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). But consumers are not convinced.

Chinese people have responded by posting or leaving commentaries at the Netease, Sina, Sohu or other forums. One netizen, having enumerated more than 40 poisonous foods reported on recently by the media, said, probably barring these toxic foods, the Quality Control Bureau’s pass rate should be over 90 percent.

Another netizen stated an above 90 percent pass rate could be obtained just because of the criterion of the AQSIQ’s food safety control.

A netizen, signed as “Empire’s Innocent,” posted a message at the Phoenix Network saying, after all, most people deal with food day in day out and could tell about food quality from their daily personal feelings. Otherwise they will not manage by all means to buy imported infant formula and even swarm to Hong Kong and Macao for it, resulting in its serious shortage in local markets.

Empire’s Innocent asked, why do some government institutions, and state-owned enterprises try strenuously to set up their own agricultural supply base for their worker?

In a recorded interview with Sound of Hope, Mrs. Wang in the northeast, said a more than 90 percent pass rate for foods consumed by ordinary people is simply too absurd.

“I absolutely believe it, if the pass rate is for the specially-provided foods of the officials,” Mrs. Wang said, “because what they consume is utterly different from our ordinary people [eat]. I have a chance to read quite a lot of news reports which have indicated many government agencies, such as: administration of customs, ministerial or provincial-level offices or others have specially-supplied foods through their own channels.”

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