The right decision

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine's (AQSIQ) decision to revoke privileges granted to food manufacturers for their products to be free of government inspection is absolutely necessary in the wake of the current infant formula contamination case.

The manufacturer of the melamine contaminated baby formula, which caused the death of four babies as of yesterday and left thousands hospitalized, enjoys such inspection-free privileges. So do many of the other 21 diary product manufacturers whose infant formulas have been found to contain melamine.

The AQSIQ began to grant inspection-free privileges in 2000 to encourage manufacturers to improve the quality of their products, and to cut costs caused by repeated inspections during the manufacturing process.

A business could be granted inspection-free privileges if three consecutive inspections by government watchdogs showed that their product met quality standards. After that, a manufacturer was required to report regularly on the quality of its products to regulators. The AQSIQ would conduct a random check once a year.

Most manufacturers have honored this privilege, including some of the 87 of the 109 manufacturers of infant formulas whose products have been proved safe. But, as evidenced by this contamination case involving one of the biggest manufacturers, such privileges have also been abused.

Besides sending a message to manufacturers about how serious the government is about food safety, the AQSIQ decision also indicates that the top public watchdog has learned a lesson: strict quality supervision and inspection must be applied to any manufactured food product.

This good news should help consumers regain their confidence in the safety of diary products. It should also relieve them of the fear that these abuses may extend to other food products.

The AQSIQ's next step should be to inspect all food manufactured by businesses that enjoyed inspection-free privileges.

(China Daily 09/19/2008 page8)