Beijing's legislature yesterday urged the municipal
government to overhaul the city's food safety system, particularly to avoid any
scandals during the upcoming Olympic Games.
The capital should improve supervision of food
safety and crack down on small agricultural-products markets, restaurants and
family-run food processing mills, Lin Wenyi, deputy director of the Standing
Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, said at the committee's
37th session yesterday.
She noted that sanitary conditions at such
businesses were worrying.
Lin said members of the Standing Committee had
identified food safety "loopholes" while inspecting food health and safety
regulations in the city this year.
"We found many small restaurants were
operating without legal licenses. They were clustered in the transitional area
between the city and its suburbs," she said.
"Their sanitary situation
is extremely poor, which poses severe food security hazards."
The city
clamped down more than 10,000 small
food processors and unlicensed restaurants last year, Lin said.
She
added that in addition to ensuring food safety in the Olympic Village and at
sports venues, more efforts should be made to monitor catering businesses in the city's outskirts,
tourist resorts, hotels and transportation hubs.
The municipal
government yesterday said it would strengthen the supervision for the city's
catering business by increasing routine patrol and putting the breakfast market
under scrutiny.
The city is also mulling its first special law on food
safety, which lays out a series of tougher measures to strengthen supervision
and deter any activity that could jeopardize food safety.
Businesses
could face fines of as much as 500,000 yuan ($66,000) and have their licenses
revoked if they are found using substandard raw materials or inedible additives,
according to the regulation, which was tabled for discussion at the session
yesterday.
The regulation also plans to grant local food safety
supervision departments the power to order food sellers and manufacturers to
recall goods that found to be unsafe. Businesses could be fined as much as
500,000 yuan and lose their licenses if they refuse to do so.
Individuals found criminally liable for food safety violations could
face a lifetime ban from engaging in food-related businesses.
Zhang
Zhikuan, director of the food safety supervision and coordination office of the
Beijing municipal government, said the public unanimously approved of "harsher"
punishments for activities that affect food safety.
Vocabulary:
clamp down：嚴(yán)厲打擊（犯罪等）
catering business：餐飲業(yè)
(China Daily 07/25/2007 page 3)
（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Linda 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Bernice Chan is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Originally from
Vancouver, Canada, Bernice has written for newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong
and most recently worked as a broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, producing current affairs shows and
documentaries.
