[식품 안전]중국은 더 강력한 식품 안전 법규를 제정하다

Food

China Sets Up a Food Safety Super-Regulator

By Dexter Roberts on March 14, 2013  

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/china-sets-up-a-food-safety-super-regulator#r=nav-f-story

It was a simple demonstration of a serious problem. At China’s National People’s Congress on March 6, a delegate from Zhejiang took out some dark peanuts, prized for their rich flavor, and dropped them in a glass of clear water. The water immediately turned black from the chemical dye coating the nuts. “This is not a show. I want people to see how these toxic additives are proliferating and harmful,” said Zhu Zhangjin, who brought more than 300 different samples of doctored food products to Beijing, according to the Qianjiang Evening News, a daily, on March 7.

Following earlier scares over melamine-laced milk powder, exploding watermelons, and pesticide-soaked vegetables, food safety is again on the minds of the Chinese. After the state broadcaster revealed late last year that some KFC chicken contained excessive levels of antibiotics, consumers deserted the once-popular fast-food chain. Sales fell 20 percent at the Louisville-based company’s 5,200 restaurants in China in 2013, parent Yum! Brands (YUM) said on March 11. The company, which gets about half its revenue from China, has launched a campaign to reassure consumers about the safety of its menu.

So-called gutter, or reused, cooking oil has surfaced once more as a major problem in China’s restaurants. A Shanghai hot pot restaurant owner was sentenced to 3½ years in jail earlier this month for using potentially toxic recycled oil. In January, China said it would offer whistle-blowers rewards of as much as 300,000 yuan ($48,221), for tips on food and drug safety problems. Chinese media are reporting that thousands of dead pigs have been found floating in a river supplying water to the city of Shanghai, raising fears of contamination. (Shanghai authorities say city water quality has not been affected, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.)

On March 10, the Chinese government announced it will create a new superministry to ensure the quality of China’s food and drugs. The General Food and Drug Administration will assume responsibility for setting standards and monitoring production, distribution, and consumption—tasks previously handled by as many as nine different government organizations. “The restructuring will better facilitate the enforcement of the food safety laws and regulations, and improve the safety of the nation’s food and drugs,” said Chen Xiaohong, a vice minister of health, the official English-language China Daily reported.

China is home to an estimated 200 million families that farm, each cultivating an average plot of 1.5 acres, as well as a half-million food processing companies, most with fewer than 10 employees. The small scale of most agriculture and food processing means the owners have limited resources to invest in the advanced techniques that could ensure better quality. “One of the challenges here in China is just the sheer volume of what’s here,” says Christopher Hickey. He runs a 13-person branch in China of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has inspected products bound for the U.S. since the office opened in late 2008.

China is trying to encourage bigger operations, particularly in agriculture. The country “will grant more subsidies to large-scale landholders, family farms, and rural cooperatives,” reported CCTV.com, the website of the state broadcaster, on Feb. 1. “The government thinks this is a way to solve the problem of food safety—have big companies producing—which gives it more control over the food system,” says Zhou Li, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

Nestlé China deploys 65 employees full time to audit its Chinese suppliers. The Swiss food giant is also investing 150 million yuan ($24 million) in a dairy farming institute to bring advisers on cow breeding, feeding, and health to work with Nestlé’s best suppliers, says Martial Genthon, senior vice president in charge of quality inspection, regulatory issues, and manufacturing. The aim: to consolidate its milk purchases within five years from 20,000 Chinese suppliers with an average 15 cows apiece, to several thousand suppliers with at least 200 cows each.

Despite the efforts, concerns are growing among ordinary Chinese. A survey by the Pew Research Center released last year showed that 41 percent of Chinese believe food safety is a very big problem, up from 12 percent four years earlier, a larger increase than for any other major worry, including corruption and air pollution. Bloggers write regularly about the latest food scandal, and a popular free iPhone app called China Survival Guide has detailed daily food and drug safety problems since last year.

“Of course, it’s a very important issue. Every person in China may have been a victim,” says 27-year-old Wu Heng, who’s launched a website and database, updated daily by a team of 33 volunteers, that details food safety problems. The site gets about 10,000 hits a day. Wu says he’s skeptical that the new ministry will make a difference, citing the limited progress following earlier government efforts. “Chinese people all have breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. But they still don’t have any faith in the safety of the food they eat.”

The bottom line: With 200 million farm families and 500,000 food processors, China presents a daunting challenge to food safety regulators.

요약

 3월 6일 중국의 전국 인민 대표 의회에서 한 대표가 어두운 색의 땅콩을 꺼내 깨끗한 물에 떨어뜨렸다. 그러자 물은 즉시 검정색으로 변하기 시작했다. 땅콩이 화학적으로 검정색으로 염색되었던 것이다. 그는 말했다. "많은 사람들이 유독 첨가제가 얼마나 많고 해로운지를 알기를 바란다."다고.

 멜라닌이 첨가된 분유, 폭발된 수박, 농약에 불린 야채 등 중국은 식품 안전에 대해 유념하고 있다. 지난 해 KFC 치킨에 엄청난 양의 항생제가 함유되었다는 것을 발표한 후에, 소비자들은 인기 패스트 푸드 체인점을 떠나버렸었다. 재사용한 더러운 기름의 사용은 중국 레스토랑의 주요한 문제로 떠올랐고, 한 상하이 레스토랑 주인은 3년 6개월의 형을 선고받았다. 지난 1월에 중국 정부는 내부 고발자에게 30만 위안을 보상할 것이라고 했다. 또한 중국 언론은 상하이에 공급하는 강에 수많은 죽은 돼지가 강물에 떠있는 것을 발견했다고 보도하고 있다. 중국 정부는 중국의 음식과 의약품의 품질을 보장​​하기 위해 새로운 거대 부처을 개설할 것이라고 발표했다. 식품의약처는 기준을 설정하고 생산, 유통, 소비를 감시하게 될 것이라고 한다.

 중국은 농사를 하는 2억 가구로 추정되며 5천만개의 식품 가공업체가 있는데, 이들 중 대부분은 10명 미만의 직원이라고 한다. 이렇게 작은 규모의 농업과 식품 가공은 진보된 기술에 투자하는 데 제한된 자원을 가지고 있다는 것을 의미한다. 중국 정부는 특히 농업이 더 큰 규모의 운영을 하도록 장려하고 있다. Nestlé China는 풀타임으로 65명의 직원을 중국 공급업체를 검사하는 데 배치했고,  The Swiss food giant는 조언을 얻기 위해 낙농 농업 연구소에 1억5천만 위안을 투자하고 있다.

 이러한 노력에도 불구하고, 중국인들은 우려하고 있다. 지난 해 한 설문조사에 따르면, 중국인의 41%가 식품 안전이 매우 주요한 문제라고 답했다고 한다. 4년 전에는 12%에 불과했지만. 블로거들은 주기적으로 최근 식품 스캔들, 식품 안전 문제에 대해 알려주는 China Survival Guide라는 무료 어플에 대해 소식을 전하고 있다. 식품 안전 프로그램을 소개하는 한 웹사이트에 하루 방문자가 약 만 명이라고 한다. 그러나 이 사이트를 개설한 Wu Heng씨는 말한다. 새 부처가 변화를 만들지는 의문이라고.