Food safety law debate goes on

The Ministry of Health has been given primary responsibility for food safety supervision under the latest draft of the legislation that was yesterday submitted for its second reading to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

The ministry will also shoulder a range of new tasks including risk evaluation, standard setting, accident investigation and information release, the draft of the food safety law said.

Chen Junshi, a senior researcher with the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, said yesterday that while the draft draws clearer lines on responsibility, it fails to tackle the problems with the supervision mechanism.