China Food Safety Challenges: Old and New

China has food safety problems stemming from fraud and pollution of farming areas, according to remarks by a Chinese food science expert praising the overall improvement in the country's food safety situation. The speech also highlighted new challenges posed by China's rapid growth in demand for health foods, e-commerce, and imported foods.

The comments were made by Professor Meng Suhe, director of the Nutrition and Health Institute of China's Center for Disease Prevention and Control, at a December 2018 meeting that assembled a team of food scientists to address the year's food safety hot topics for attendees from news media. The speech pointed to improved compliance found in government testing of dairy, meat, grains, and eggs, a reduction in microbiological food safety incidents, and reduced concerns about food safety in public opinion polls as indicators of an improving food safety situation in recent years. 

Although the food safety situation is "stable overall," Prof. Meng cited four persisting problems that need to be addressed:

• Contamination of raw materials by pollution in farming areas
• Use of food additives in foods where they are not authorized or in excessive amounts
• Nonfood materials in food items
• False advertising in nutritional supplements and health food

The scientist identified food additives as the top problem revealed in testing results during the third quarter of 2018. Professor Meng also observed that the public has rising concerns about residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs in foods that violate standards. She interpreted this as reflective of the complex, long-term problem of contamination of raw materials. 

A discussion of new challenges facing food safety regulators was omitted from most accounts of Prof. Meng's speech circulated on Chinese news sites. Prof. Meng cited several emerging challenges related to major changes in China's food market:

• Explosive growth in demand for health foods driven by a "Healthy China" initiative has attracted fraudsters along with legitimate companies. Problems include illegal use of pharmaceutical ingredients in foods, fakes, adulteration, and exaggerated advertising claims. 
• 30-percent annual growth in e-commerce sales are pressuring traditional marketing channels. Many online food products have "a brand but no factory," which "hollows out" the supply chain and creates a new "hot spot" for food safety regulation, Prof. Meng commented.
• Imported foods and raw materials are growing rapidly as China opens its market, but food safety management is uneven, posing another source of risk. 
• Food safety information transmitted from abroad needs rapid responses from Chinese scientists, Prof. Meng said. 

Food safety informational meetings for news media have been held since 2012 to prevent the spread of rumors and to disseminate a scientific viewpoint in order to shape public opinion. The main purpose is to squelch unscientific rumors that spread by word-of-mouth, social media, and news media, in turn influencing public opinion and company sales. The meeting is purported to reflect a shift from crisis response to risk prevention and shared governance from all members of society. A poll purporting to show an increase in scientific knowledge among the general public was cited at the meeting.

The 2018 meeting assembled a dozen scientists from Chinese universities and institutes to address a dozen "hot topics", including:

• whether coffee is carcinogenic 
• whether edible fungus is toxic 
• explaining news about cyclospora infections in the United States
• an overseas article questioning the value of probiotics
• whether African swine fever can be transmitted from pork to consumers
• a scandal involving a health food company
• whether an additive to prevent clumping in salt is toxic
• adulteration of high-end oils with cheap oils and use of oils from genetically modified oilseeds without acknowledging the materials on the label
• de-bunking a claim that a food can balance acids and bases in the consumer's body
• self-styled "professional anti-counterfeiters"

The 2017 meeting cited a reduced degree of concern about food safety problems in public opinion polls since 2013 attributed to improved regulation that "calmed the market." Governments at national, provincial and local levels set up news digests and short-messaging systems to issue 85 messages from China's FDA. The 2017 meeting cited three main problems: microorganism contamination of foods, food additives, and residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs. The 2017 meeting discussed a recall of French infant formula, whether pu'er tea and a type of Chinese salted fish are carcinogenic, whether drinking liquor can prevent cancer, a health food brand's claim to extend life by 10%, concern about excessive aluminum in fried dough, and online food safety and health food problems.

While food safety is improving in cities, regulation in rural areas is often lax. Last week, Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Kangzhen toured Guangdong and Jiangsu Provinces to urge officials in rural communities to strengthen their regulation of food adulteration and illegal meat slaughter. Yu toured small food shops, restaurants, workshops, food markets, and slaughter facilities. He met with village committees and township governments to hear work reports, discuss potential risks, and to urge local officials and producers to carry out responsibilities, raise the quality of food industry, coordinate government and grass roots communist party organizations, increase propaganda, and strengthen supervision of animal slaughter.