Food additive scandal scares public yet again

NANNING -- Food safety is raising eyebrows among the Chinese public once again, after a family-run workshop in east China was exposed to be selling duck blood made with banned additives.

The situation came to the fore when the People's Daily reported on the case on Tuesday. The owners of the mom and pop store in Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, were found to have added dyeing and printing auxiliaries to the duck blood they sell to make it appear more appealing, the newspaper said on its official account on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

The couple who own the shop bought chicken blood instead of duck blood at extremely cheap prices, added inedible dyeing and printing agents to make the blood solid, before selling the products to local markets.

Duck blood is a delicacy in China. The small shop made about 1,000 kg of such "duck blood," according to the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

The post, which fueled much public unease, has been forwarded more than 5,000 times as of Thursday morning. In a display of their anger, Chinese netizens wrote a flurry of scathing comments about loose government supervision and a dearth of conscience among food manufacturers.

"If people's hearts have become fake, what genuine food can we expect in the market anyway?" wrote a Weibo user with the screen name "Danzengpingcuodedan," in despair of food quality in China.

Another netizen screen-named "Kuailelaoxiaolin" said that authorities should not shirk their responsibilities in the face of such scandals.

China's food safety has been draped in doubts after a slew of high-profile food scandals shook the confidence of consumers, particularly the one in 2008 when melamine-tainted baby formula caused the deaths of at least six infants and made 300,000 ill.

To address widespread concern, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in March that the government will strictly enforce food laws and regulations, pledging the most stringent supervision and toughest punishment for unscrupulous producers and negligent officials.

Meanwhile, China's food watchdogs have issued innumerable policies to try to stamp out below-standard food.

According to draft amendments to the Food Safety Law released in late October, China will triple the fines for severe food safety violations, while people jailed for such crimes will be banned forever from the food industry.

But illegal manufacturers continue to stick their necks out to stealthily make unqualified food and rake in more profits.

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