Food safety gets good rating but threats remain
ABOUT 3 percent of food products in Shanghai’s markets and restaurants failed to meet quality standards in 2016, according to a food safety report.
Though that figure was marginally lower than that of 2015, there were still threats to the city’s food safety, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said in an annual report released yesterday. In particular, these came from the microbe, farm chemical leftover, additive, heavy metal, hormone and antibiotic areas.
Most local farm produce proved to be safe and had passed standards during random checks carried out by the administration, but excessive amount of farm chemicals were found in vegetables and meat sold at local markets.
Shanghai had been enhancing the management of food safety and cracking down on crimes threatening food safety, the administration said. “Citizens are increasingly satisfied with the food safety conditions,” said Yan Zuqiang, director with the administration.
City Mayor Yang Xiong told legislators at the annual session of Shanghai People’s Congress that the city government aimed to make Shanghai “a national food safety city.”
The administration, or the city’s food safety watchdog, had carried out random checks on more than 190,000 food samples throughout 2016, and 98.5 percent passed standards, a 0.3 percent increase on 2015.
Food that failed to meet the quality standard included bean products and compound spices, where excessive bacteria were found. Some wine products had also mislabeled alcohol amounts.
Excessive bacteria, farm chemicals and harmful additives were also found in cooked meat, pastries, fish and shrimp products, as well as hotpot flavoring.
About 0.5 percent of imported food products failed to meet quality standards, particularly with regard to dairy produce.
A total of 320 suspects accused of food safety violations were arrested in 159 cases in the city last year, a drop of 52 percent on 2015, the report said. Seven food poisoning incidents occurred last year in which 229 people were poisoned but there were no fatalities.
The administration received more than 106,000 calls to its 12331 hotline and city’s 12345 hotline last year, up 28 percent on 2015.
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