Another food scandal

The discovery of pesticide-contaminated cowpea in Guangdong province, Wuhan city and other places has again sounded alarm bells over unsafe food. Recurring incidents of contaminated food such as milk, eggs and now edible plants have made a thorough overhaul of food inspection and quarantine system an absolute necessity.

Contaminated cowpea was first discovered in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. The plant is grown on about 13,000 hectares in Hainan province and was sourced from there. Cities and towns in other provinces soon began reporting about cowpea contaminated by three types of poisonous pesticides, which can seriously harm consumers.

To prevent such incidents from recurring, it is necessary to find out why and how such contamination took place and who is to blame for that. And consumers need to know all the details of the case.